Palestinians and the world at large woke to the news of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that rocked Japan on March 11, killing at least 1,000 people and causing extensive damage. Local news was also shocking. In the early morning hours of March 12, five members of the same family from the settlement of Itimar in the northern West Bank were stabbed and killed by an unknown assailant. While the perpetrator is still at large, Israeli authorities are working on the assumption that the assailant is Palestinian and have thus closed off all the surrounding area, erected checkpoints and arrested citizens from nearby villages.

In Awarta, near Nablus, Israeli occupation forces arrested 20 people after raiding the village in search of the assailant. Furthermore, soldiers were stationed at checkpoints earlier evacuated such as the Huwwara checkpoint in addition to several flying checkpoints, which were set up after the killings. Residents of the Nablus district were turned back at the checkpoints after Israel declared the area a closed military zone.

Tensions have been rising between area-settlers and Palestinians for the past week after settlers clashed with Palestinian residents when an illegal outpost was being removed by Israeli police. In retaliation, settlers through a firebomb into a house in Huwwara, which resulted in two children being sent to hospital for smoke inhalation.

Also last week in Hebron, settlers smashed cars and shops and cut down 500 olive saplings in the place where a former settlement outpost had stood.

On March 7, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his government to dismantle “illegal outposts” built on privately owned Palestinian land. However, Peace Now said the statement was “problematic” because it only mentioned “at least three outposts” when in reality there were 70 Jewish settlement outposts built on Palestinian land in the West Bank.

On March 9, a group of these settlers handed out flyers to European and American diplomats working in Ramallah as they passed through the military checkpoint at Bet El. The letter read: “Dear Diplomats: You are guests in our country; you are standing on the holy land of the Jewish nation; don’t interfere in the construction in our country; the interference from the US government and the EU endangers your presence here; go back to your countries and face facts; we don’t want to establish peace with the terrorist Palestinians.”

On the internal Palestinian front, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad requested two more weeks to form a new government from President Abbas on March 6, something which Abbas accepted.

Unfortunately, efforts towards reconciliation aren’t going as smoothly. On March 11, Fateh announced it would reject Hamas’ proposal to form a united leadership to manage Palestinian affairs until the PLO is restructured to include Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. Rather, said Fateh Central Committee member Jamal Muhassen, Fateh insisted that Hamas sign the Egyptian-mediated reconciliation paper. Apparently, Fateh boycotted the entire session in which the proposal was put forward. While Hamas’ spokesperson Fawzi Barhom said his movement’s initiative was proof that Hamas wanted to restore unity, Fateh begged to differ. "After four years of split, we need decisions not initiatives," Fatah spokesman Ahmed Assaf said. "The president fired this government after Hamas carried out its coup, so the Hamas administration is illegitimate," he said.

On March 10, Hamas officials said they had reshuffled their de facto government in Gaza, a move leader Ismail Haniyeh said was “administrative” and not against reconciliation. He added that the new government would resign when a national unity agreement was reached with Fateh.

Meanwhile, Quartet envoys met on March 10 in a bid to restart peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis but to no avail. While parties met with Israeli envoy Yitzhak Molcho in Washington and later with Saeb Erekat in Ramallah, no agreement was reached. Quartet envoys said there were “serious contradictions in the views of the parties on how to bring about resumed negotiations on all core issues, including borders and security.”

Prime Minister Fayyad added that the time had come for the international to step up in the face of Israel’s intransigence. "It is time for the international community to ask Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: does he accept the establishment of a Palestinian state on all the lands occupied in 1967 -- yes or no?" the premier told AFP on a visit to Jericho. “The only initiative that can work is one which leads to the establishment of a Palestinian state on all lands occupied in 1967 and not on part of it," Fayyad said.

Fayyad’s words come on the heels of the so-called peace initiative Netanyahu is floating. On March 8, Palestinians said they rejected Netanyahu’s idea of an interim agreement that gives Palestinians a state on 60 percent of the West Bank. “Netanyahu is trying to escape from his obligations towards the peace process by talking about new proposals," said presidential advisor Nabil Abu Rdainah. "If he is serious, let him stop settlements and immediately start negotiations".

Consequently, also on March 8, Israeli authorities confiscated 480 dunams of land from Abu Dis for the completion of the separation wall around Jerusalem.

In the diplomatic arena, Denmark announced on March 8 that it would upgrade the status of the Palestinian delegation in Copenhagen to mission, according to its Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen during President Abbas’ visit to Denmark.

For his part, Abbas said the move reflected "the deep commitment between the two countries."

On March 7, Britain said it would raise the status of the Palestinian Authority in London to “mission” but without diplomatic recognition. “Given the extent of our aid to the Palestinian Authority and our work with them, we will join many other countries in upgrading the status of the Palestinian delegation to London to the level of a mission," British Foreign Secretary William Hague told parliament.

While an improvement, the upgrade failed to confer formal diplomatic status on the mission, which would imply recognizing a Palestinian state.

"It's us recognizing the progress the Palestinian government has made in building the foundations of a viable Palestinian state, building institutions, but it doesn't mean we've decided to recognize a Palestinian state," one British official said.