Israel will not build new settlements or even expand existing ones in the occupied territories, despite an announcement by the housing ministry of new home construction, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said in an interview to appear Friday.

"We are not going to build new settlements," Peres told the French daily Le Figaro. "There won't be an extension of the settlements' area, nor additional confiscation of land, even in the case of natural growth."

Peres said Israeli Housing Minister Natan Sharansky, who Tuesday announced the construction of 710 new homes in two West Bank settlements, had "made a mistake."

"These aren't new homes. It's a new statement. These additional homes, in already existing settlements, had already been approved by Ehud Barak's government," in power from 1999 until March, Peres said.

Peres was less clear about whether Israel would continue to construct roads to serve the settlements.

"That's another story," he said. "Nobody has asked us to freeze road construction... That's an open question."

But "I can tell you that settlements won't be an obstacle to implementing the Mitchell report," Peres said.

The report on the Israeli-Palestinian violence, published last week by an international panel chaired by former US senator George Mitchell, called for an immediate end to eight months of fighting, followed by a freeze on settlement construction and tougher Palestinian action against "terrorism."

Both the Israelis and Palestinians have said they accept the Mitchell report, but Peres condemned the Palestinians for insisting on "side measures" to the panel's recommendations.

"There's just one document on the table, and that's the Mitchell report. They want to add side measures to it, a meeting at (the Egyptian resort of) Sharm el-Sheikh, an international conference. For what purpose?" he asked.

Peres added that a parallel mediation effort, a peace plan proposed by Egypt and Jordan, was "very complicated."

The interview comes ahead of a two-day state visit to France starting Wednesday by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, a right-winger who heads a broad coalition of which Peres is the most prominent dove.

Peres told Le Figaro that Sharon was coming to Europe "to present the Israeli position clearly."

"Israel is waiting for Europe, France, the United States, Russia to take a clear position against terror," he said.

Sharon last week declared a unilateral ceasefire, which the Palestinians have denounced as a sham, but Peres said Israel could take action if attacks continue.

"We cannot reveal everything, but we don't intend to use planes or collective punishment," Peres said.

Israel on May 15 used warplanes against the Palestinian territories for the first time since it captured them in 1967, in response to a Palestinian suicide attack at a shopping mall that killed five Israelis.

"F-16s were used once. That was an exception," Peres said.AFP