Wall Games

Buoyed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's successful trip to the U.S., the Israeli government ordered the building of 22 homes in a settlement in the Gaza Strip, pushed through a law denying citizenship to Palestinians who marry Israelis — and completed the first phase of a $1 billion barrier that critics say will in effect turn the West Bank into a vast prison.

The construction ordered in the Neveh Dekalim settlement violated the U.S.-backed road map to peace, which requires Israel to freeze all settlement activity, but the government claimed the new homes were part of "natural growth"...