BETHLEHEM, West Bank - France's foreign minister said Friday that "nothing justifies" Israeli settlement expansion, and urged Israel to do more to lift restrictions on Palestinian movement in the West Bank.

The minister, Bernard Kouchner, spoke at the closing session of an investors' conference in Bethlehem, where Palestinians had sought backing for nearly $2 billion (€1.29 billion) in development projects, from fish farms to a new city of 25,000.

Israel maintains a sweeping network of roadblocks across the West Bank, saying they are vital to keep militants from crossing into Israel to carry out attacks. But Palestinians and international agencies like the World Bank say it's impossible to stimulate the Palestinian economy as long as the hundreds of roadblocks remain in place.

Kouchner said Israeli restrictions on Palestinian mobility remain significant. "Israel should and can exert more efforts (to ease the restrictions) without endangering security," he said.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said that was exactly what Israel was trying to do. "That's our challenge: To take down roadblocks, to try to create greater movement and access for Palestinians while maintaining security."

So far, Israel has taken down only a few roadblocks, most of them dirt barriers.

Kouchner also criticized the ongoing construction in Israeli settlements. "Nothing justifies the settlement expansion, which constitutes an impediment to peace, as well as an obstacle obstructing the development of the Palestinian economy," he said.

Regev said settlement construction continues only in Jewish neighborhoods of east Jerusalem, which Israel does not consider settlements, and inside large West Bank settlement blocs that Israel intends to retain in any final peace accord.

The Palestinians and the international community do not recognize Israel's 1967 annexation of east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as capital of a future state. The Palestinians also demand sovereignty over the entire West Bank, though negotiators have discussed swapping the land where major settlement blocs stand in exchange for an equal amount of Israeli territory.

France is up next for the rotating European Union presidency.

The three-day conference was designed to help revive the Palestinian economy and support efforts to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and establish a Palestinian state.

It was a follow-up to a gathering of international donor countries in Paris in December, where $7.7 billion (euro4.9 billion) in aid over three years was pledged.