This week was especially wrought with violence in the West Bank and Jerusalem. On April 18 an unidentified Palestinian reportedly ran over two Israeli policemen on the Hizma road between Ramallah and Jerusalem, wounding them. Israeli police then arrested the man for interrogation.

It was April 17, however, that proved to be the most violent. On Friday morning, 17-year old Rabah Seder tried to infiltrate the Beit Haggai settlement south of Hebron carrying a knife. He was caught and shot to death by armed residents of the settlement before ever setting foot in the settlement.

Then in Bilin, where weekly protests take place against Israel's West Bank wall, 29-year old Bassem Abu Rahma was killed after being shot with a high-velocity tear gas canister to the chest. One eyewitness, Nasser Samara who is also a member of the Popular Committee Against the Wall said Abu Rahma was not even near the wall when he was shot. "He was shot from a distance of less than 20 meters. He was carrying a Palestinian flag and shouting that this was a nonviolent demonstration. The tear gas canister hit and entered his chest, killing him.”

Also on April 17, 16-year old Mohammed Nuwara from the Jalazon refugee camp north of Ramallah was killed when Israeli soldiers opened fire at him and his 19-year old friend Mohammed Balaysha, who was wounded in the leg. According to Israeli authorities the boys were trying to throw Molotov cocktails at the Bet El settlement nearby and were shot on the spot.

On April 13, the Israeli coast guard fired at a fishing boat off the Gaza shore, claiming it had hundreds of kilos of explosives on board. It is unknown whether there were any fishermen aboard or not.

In Jerusalem, while no lives were lost and no explosives went off, the violence was just as palpable. Over the Jewish Passover holiday, extremist Jewish groups broke into Al Aqsa mosque to perform prayers.

Then on April 16, Israeli security authorities issued a high alert in the Old City, namely around the Aqsa Mosque Compound after Jewish groups announced they would march to Al Aqsa, which they claim is built over the ruins of the Second Temple. Thousands of Israeli police and border guards were patrolled in and around the Old City, banning men under 50 from entering the mosque. Busloads of Palestinians living inside Israel attempted to come to Al Aqsa to defend it but were barred from entering Lion's Gate by Israeli police, who also banned settlers from breaking into Al Aqsa for fear of riots.

Jerusalem has been unusually tense this week. The Ghawi and Hanoun families of Sheikh Jarrah are expecting Israeli forces to evict them from their homes at any time after the Israel High Court rejected an appeal to halt the eviction order. Jewish settlers have laid ownership claim to their houses, along with 57 other families in the area.

On April 15, presidential advisor on Jerusalem Hatem Abdul Qader put Israel's home demolition policy into perspective. He said that since December, 2008 Israeli authorities in Jerusalem have handed out orders for the demolition of 1,000 homes, including buildings with 20-25 apartments each.

At the diplomatic level, Israeli and Palestinian leaders met with US Special Middle East Envoy George Mitchell. After meeting with Israeli leaders, Mitchell met President Mahmoud Abbas at his Ramallah headquarters on April 17. During the meeting, Mitchell said the founding of a Palestinian state was a national interest of the United States, saying his country hoped the Arab peace initiative would play a role in realizing this goal. Mitchell told leaders of both sides that he believed a two-state solution was the only solution to the Middle East crisis, adding that the Middle East was a top priority to President Obama.

For his part, Abbas conveyed to Mitchell the Palestinian perspective. According to chief Palestinian negotiator Saed Erekat, "President Abbas affirmed the necessity that all sides commit to the two-state solution, abide by previously signed agreements and the guidelines of the Road Map, particularly halting settlements and home demolitions, as well as expulsions carried out against Palestinians."

Meanwhile Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the envoy that that any negotiations on a two-state accord would have to be conditioned on the Palestinians recognizing Israel as a Jewish state.

President Abbas earlier offered Netanyahu a good will gesture by calling him on April 12 to congratulate him on the Passover holiday. The two reportedly spoke about future peace efforts although no details were divulged.

Internally, Palestinian factions are to return to Cairo on April 23 to resume reconciliation talks after they broke off earlier this month. Hamas and Fateh have apparently come to an impasse after Egypt tried to bypass some of the differences by proposing a paper calling for a joint coordination committee between the West Bank and Gaza governments. Sources say the paper was handed to Abbas just before he left Cairo last week, but was rejected by the parties. Hamas and Fateh are still in disagreement over the formation of a new transitional national unity government.

Meanwhile, the final text for the United Nations' upcoming conference on racism has been declared, which dropped all references to Israel, Zionism and the Middle East conflict. The move has been seen as kowtowing to US and Israeli pressures not to single out Israel as a racist state. The US among other western countries, has yet to officially declare whether it will attend the Geneva conference but the move has angered more than a few Palestinians. An open letter signed by Palestinians, Arabs and international human rights organizations accused Palestinian and Arab diplomats of heeding to western pressures by accepting the final text of the statement. “This step (of deleting any reference to Palestine) was unfortunately approved by official Arab negotiating delegations in Geneva including the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine at the UN office in Geneva,” read the letter.

Apparently, this is still not enough for the US, which is under tremendous pressure from Israel to boycott the conference, a follow-up of the Durban 2001 conference on racism, which the US and Israel walked out on.

"The United States still has some concerns," State Department Robert Wood told Reuters. "No decision has been made yet whether to attend or participate. We need to have our concerns addressed."

Palestinians marked Prisoners' Day on April 17. Sit-ins, protests and marches were held on the occasion, all demanding for the better treatment and ultimate release of all Palestinian political prisoners from Israeli jails.

Finally, spokesperson for the Palestinian security services Adnan Dmeiree held a press conference on April 14 in Ramallah in which he said eight people had been apprehended in the recent uncovering of explosives in a Qalqilya mosque. On April 9, security forces accidently uncovered a stash of explosives in an underground room in a Qalqilya mosque after an electricity malfunction caused a small fire there. Dmeriee did not give details on the suspects but said there were "elements that want to undermine our security."