Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced on Tuesday that it is entirely possible that Gilad Shalit will not be released before he steps down from office.

**The dollar strengthened against the shekel on Tuesday, trading during the morning at 4.135.

**Taibeh City Hall was closed as a result of a bomb scare.

**Kadima Minister Ze’ev Boim warns President Peres to do something to prevent a radical right-wing government from coming to power.

**8,000 tons of apples grown in Israel’s northern Druse communities are being transferred to the Syrian marketplace on Tuesday.

**19,719 Israelis lost their jobs in the month of January. This represents a 15.1% increase in the number of Israelis seeking unemployment benefits, now numbering 218,500.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)