We have found, using the IP inversion method, the 1-independent potent
ial which leads to the same angular distributions as the phenomenologi
cal parity and 1-dependent ''deep'' potential of Gao and He, fitted to
the O-16 + Ne-20 scattering for energies below 40 MeV. The real part
of this potential is deeper over the whole range. The absorptive part
is surface transparent having a small and energy-dependent radius refl
ecting the original l-dependent cut-off. We show that the parity odd-e
ven staggering effect in S(l) is necessary only for the grazing partia
l waves in order to yield the Gao and He cross sections. We also show
that the present potential leads to wave functions that are different
from those of Gao and He. The implications for phenomenology are discu
ssed.