The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has called on the Palestinian President, Mehmood Abbas, to continue peace talks minutes after the end of Israel's partial freeze on settlement building. The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, who is pushing for direct talks to continue, spoke with the Israeli Prime Minister twice on Sunday. There is no word from the Palestinian side on end of ten month moratorium on construction of Jewish settlements. Earlier, Mr. Abbas had threatened to walk away from the peace talks if settlement buildings resumed on what is internationally regarded as Palestinian land. Israel has not responded to request from President Obama to extend the freeze in the interest of keeping the talks alive. Jewish settlers have started celebrating the end of the freeze. Some Israeli settlers started gathering construction equipment preparing to resume buildings as soon as the partial ban expired. They released balloons and broke ground for a new kinder garden. The United States has renewed its call to Israel to maintain its freeze on the construction of Jewish settlements on Palestinian land. US State Department spokesman, P.J. Crowley said, the American position had not changed. His remarks followed the expiry of Israel's ten month moratorium on settlements building. Mr. Crowley said, the US was still focussed on moving West Asia peace talks forward.