crimes of skimming

From an article in the NYT. This quotation would have made much more sense had I read enough of the beginning of the article to know that Ariel was the name of a West Bank Settlement instead of referring to Ariel Sharon. I was puzzled at why the Times would refer to the Prime Minister of another country by his first name.

Initially, Israel would place a high-tech barrier around Ariel, but the barrier would not run from the settlement to the West Bank frontier, Israeli officials said.

After Ariel is encircled with the new barrier, a process expected to take months, the government will again consult with the United States and decide whether to extend the barrier from Ariel toward the West Bank frontier, where it would meet the existing barrier.