SHAAR EFRAIM CROSSING, West Bank, July 7 (UPI) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Wednesday said that the construction of the West Bank security barrier, "was taking too long."
"You have no budgetary problems, and you must improve the pace (of construction)," he said at a special meeting held to discuss progress, the Ha'aretz newspaper reported.
Sharon approved several changes to the barrier's route, excluding several Palestinian villages near Ariel that had been on the "Israeli side."
The Cabinet is to vote on the changes Sunday, Ha'aretz said.
The revised route would still loop around Ariel and several other settlements but would take in fewer Palestinian villages, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz reportedly said.
The section around Ariel was hotly disputed since the barrier around that town and on the road to it would penetrate deeply into West Bank land.
The proposed changes would prevent legal difficulties that could delay construction, Mofaz added.
The army meanwhile inaugurated the new Sha'ar Efraim Crossing, south of the West Bank town of Tul Karem. It is one of the six passages slated to replace checkpoints between the Palestinian Authority and Israel proper.
