JERUSALEM, March 2 (Xinhuanet) -- The Israel army has decided to drop plans to build a wide moat along Gaza's border with Egypt to thwart weapons smuggling tunnels, favoring a less-invasive barrier of concrete, fences and underground walls, army officials said on Wednesday.

    The army decided to drop its original plan, which would have required the large-scale demolition of Palestinian homes, after it became clear that Attorney General Menachem Mazuz would likely oppose the plan.

    The new barrier will consist of a complex of eight-meter high concrete walls, an underground concrete barrier, fences and other technologies to detect underground digging. A steel wall already runs through Rafah.

    The project centers on the Philadelphi Route, the strip of land in southern Gaza Strip that borders Egypt.

    While Israel plans to withdraw from the Gaza Strip under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan, the army has said it will not immediately leave the corridor because of the ongoing armssmuggling through tunnels.

    Israel has said it wants to withdraw from the route in the future, and has begun coordinating security issues with Egypt, which has offered to help achieve the Israeli pullback.

    Israel had initially planned to block the tunnels by building a 25-meter-deep and 5-km-long trench, filled with sea water, which would have required it to demolish 200 to 3,000 Palestinian homes in nearby Rafah refugee camp, depending on the width of the moat. Enditem