Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked Palestinian Authority to come forward for talks leaving behind its demand for a complete Israeli settlement freeze before embarking on any fresh peace talks. Speaking at the opening of the cabinet meeting he expressed the hope that Palestinians would get a grip on the situation and drop this precondition. He claimed that while Israel is taking steps toward negotiations, it has encountered preconditions demanded by the Palestinian side, which were never demanded before. The prime minister's comments came after visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday that Israel was making unprecedented concessions on West Bank settlement construction.But the Palestinians have rejected Israel's offer to dial down settlement construction in the West Bank, rather than bringing it to a complete halt. The prime minister also told the cabinet that Clinton had decided that U.S. President Barack Obama's Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, would extend his current visit to the region by a number of days in order to bridge the differences between the sides.