The Palestinian envoy to the United Nations charged yesterday that Israel is using its planned withdrawal from Gaza to divert attention from a continued expansion of its West Bank settlements and an extension of its massive wall around Jerusalem. In front of the UN Security Council, Somaia Barghouti called on Israel to freeze all settlement activity and dismantle settlement outposts erected since March 2001. But Israeli U.N. Ambassador Dan Gillerman urged council members to focus on the Gaza withdrawal and accused the Palestinian envoy of distorting the facts. Arab nations requested the council debate to put fresh pressure on the United Nations a year after an advisory opinion of the World Court concluded what the Palestinians call the Israeli “apartheid wall” was illegal. Israel has said it was ignoring the court’s ruling.