JERUSALEM, Jan. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will present an altered route of the separation fence in two parts of the West Bank to the cabinet for approval this week, the Ha'aretz daily reported on Sunday.

    The cabinet deliberations are likely to take place two days prior to the planned meeting between Sharon and Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, which was said scheduled on Feb. 8.

    Sharon is expected to present to the ministers a "package deal," in which the fence will move deep inside the territory of Gush Etzion.

    The route of the fence in Gush Etzion is expected to upset the PNA because it intends to include 10 settlements and the town of Efrat into an Israeli pocket between the West Bank cities of Bethlehem and Hebron.

    The new route will also include four Palestinian villages with some 18,000 residents, in addition to many properties of Palestinians from Bethlehem.

    In recent weeks, Israeli defense ministry officials and representatives of the Justice Ministry held intensive talks in an effort to formulate a solution that would enable Palestinians with property in Gush Etzion to access their land and allow "normal life" to go on inside the four Palestinian villages.

    Government officials assessed that the cabinet will authorize the new route, the report said. Enditem