What Settlement Freeze?

Colonists In Occupied Hebron Pour Concrete For Four Buildings

By PHILIP WEISS
On SEPTEMBER 23, 2010
Courtesy Of "Mondo Weiss"

Two days ago I visited the occupied Hebron area with Jeff Halper and Salim Shawamreh of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. I shot this video at Kiryat Arba, a religious settlement on stolen Palestinian lands in the hills outside Hebron.

You can see that the settlement freeze that has supposedly stopped construction of illegal colonies in the West Bank and that is due to expire in three days is being openly flouted. Look closely on the right in this video and toward the beginning you will see a white concrete truck leaving the settlement. Then you will see a crane for pouring concrete arched over forms on the second floors of four new houses. And if you look very closely, about halfway through the video, you will see a concrete truck in the upper middle part of the frame, whose tank is turning. Concrete trucks keep their tanks turning when they're filled with concrete, so that the mixture won't start to set up. This truck was getting ready to be unloaded. Another barely-visible truck is delivering yards of concrete.

While at Kiryat Arba, I saw many workers climbing on the scaffolding as they poured these new piers and floors.

The voice in the video is that of Jeff Halper, in the front seat. Shawamreh speaks briefly at the beginning. Halper says that Americans for Peace Now has also been documenting violations of the settlement freeze. I wonder what Obama and Clinton are doing as the Israelis thumb their noses in our face.