Qaffin, West Bank ? Beyond coils of razor wire and a deep trench, a welder sends blue sparks from a blow torch as he works on a barrier that one day will be more than three times as long as the Berlin Wall.

Israel hopes the fence and orders to shoot anyone who tries to cross will keep out suicide bombers. Palestinians said the wall, which frequently weaved into the West Bank, was a way of annexing land while delaying a peace deal that would set borders of a Palestinian state.

In the end, the government plans to completely cut Israel off from the West Bank with a fence 370 miles long — although no one can say how long it will take. Only about 20 miles are finished, and an additional 100 miles are partly built.

Israel has seized thousands of acres of Palestinian farm landon which to build the barrier. And because the fence veers into the West Bank, about 95,000 Palestinians, or 4.5 percent of the Palestinian zone’s population, could end up living in fenced-in enclaves off limits to nonresidents, according to a study by the European Union, U.S. government, World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

“This is not about security; it’s a land grab,” said Michael Tarazi, a PLO legal adviser. “They’re taking prime water and agricultural resources and carving away Palestinian population centers.”

The Palestinians seek all the areas Israel captured in the 1967 war — the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem — for their state.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he was not willing to give up all of the West Bank. He has been evasive about whether he would uproot any of the approximately 150 Jewish settlements scattered across that territory.