Sharon agrees to barrier changes

ISRAELI Prime Minister Ariel Sharon agreed to changes in the route of Israel’s West Bank barrier yesterday, but insisted on keeping key Jewish settlement blocks inside.

Israel’s Defence Ministry had proposed changes after the High Court ruled that the barrier’s planned route should take up less Palestinian land. The International Court of Justice has ruled the barrier illegal.

A statement from Mr Sharon’s office said the new route would still have to be brought to the cabinet for final approval. “Sharon has approved the Defence Ministry plan in principle,” one senior political source said.

Israel says completed sections of the barrier, a network of razor-tipped fences and concrete walls, have already helped to prevent dozens of suicide bombings. Palestinians call it a grab for land they want for an independent state.

The political sources said the new route would be closer to the so-called “Green Line”, which formed the boundary before Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war. But they said it would still enclose the settlements of Maale Adumim and Gush Etzion, two of the biggest in the West Bank.