This week, Palestinians commemorated the 63rd anniversary of Al Nakba, the catastrophe of 1948 when over 800,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes into a life of refuge. On May 13, thousands of Palestinians took to the streets and near Israeli checkpoints to mark the week of Al Nakba, calling for the right of return. Seventeen-year old Milad Ayyash, who was shot by Israeli forces in the east Jerusalem suburb of Silwan, died of his wounds on the morning of May 14. The Israeli army and Palestinians clashed throughout the West Bank and east Jerusalem on May 13, which resulted in the arrest of at least 15 Palestinians.

Tomorrow, May 15 is the day Palestinians mark Al Nakba day, coinciding with the day Israel declared its independence in 1948. This year, Israel celebrated its independence day earlier in the week, which was also marked by a lockdown of the occupied Palestinian territories by Israeli authorities.

Demonstrations also took place in Egypt and Jordan in support of the Palestinians. Calls have been made for people to march to the borders with historical Palestine on May 15 demanding the right of return of Palestinian refugees. In Jordan, protestors also demanded that the Israeli ambassador be sent home.

On May 14, a 13-year old child from the northern West Bank city of Salfeet was seriously wounded when unexploded ordnance left by the Israeli army went off near him. The boy was hit with shrapnel throughout his body.

Meanwhile, Palestinians are still feeling their way around the new reconciliation deal between Hamas and Fateh. While government officials have announced that an interim government would be announced within the next 10 days, it is still unclear who will become prime minister. Media reports throughout the week have posited possibilities of current Prime Minister Salam Fayyad sharing the post with Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, although nothing has been verified so far. Furthermore, on May 12, Fateh announced that President Mahmoud Abbas would not be running in the next presidential elections and was currently looking for an appropriate candidate to run in his stead.

Unfortunately, the current Palestinian government is already living an immediate crisis following the reconciliation deal. For the first time since 2007, the PA is unable to pay its civil servant salaries after Israel decided to freeze the transfer of Palestinian tax revenues in the amount of $105 million. On May 11, the PA appealed to Arab countries to help pay the salaries of its 155,000 government workers.

"We say to our Arab brothers, ‘Save us. We need your help more than any time before,” said premier Salam Fayyad. Israel made the decision on May 1 to halt the transfer of Palestinian customs and other levies, which compromise 70 percent of the PA’s revenues, saying it feared the money would go to Hamas.

In other news, George Mitchell, US President Barack Obama’s Middle East envoy announced his resignation on May 13, citing the end of his two-year stint. Mitchell said he continued to support President Obama’s vision of peace for the region, nonetheless.

"I strongly support your vision of comprehensive peace in the Middle East and thank you for giving me the opportunity to be part of your administration," Mitchell said in his resignation letter.

His resignation will be effective May 20, the same day Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to visit the White House.

Obama is said to be planning a major policy speech to lay out his new Middle East strategy according to US officials. The speech will most likely address new proposals for renewed Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.

Obama’s speech is unlikely to address the uncovering of Israel’s cancellation of 140,000 residency rights of West Bank residents between 1967 and 1994. The scandal was recently exposed in the Israeli daily Haaretz on May 11 through a letter sent by the Center for the Defense of the Individual which said Israel stripped these residents of their right to live in the country over the years in question before the Oslo Accords were signed. The residents, who were given the status of NLR – no longer residents – were stripped of their ID’s after trying to return to the West Bank following periods of being out of the country, sometimes for periods as short as six months.

Finally, Israeli occupation forces issued demolition orders to seven families in the village of Walajeh in the Jordan Valley on May 12.