SECURITY/DEFENSE:

*Today, Tuesday, is day 161 of the virtual Gaza ceasefire.

*Today is Gilad Shalit’s 885th day in Hamas captivity.

*IDF soldiers involved in counter-terror operations throughout Yehuda and Shomron on Monday night arrested four suspects.

*DM Barak announces that Gaza crossings will remain closed on Tuesday due to the Monday evening rocket attack.

*Two air force jets were scrambled to intercept an Ethiopian aircraft on Tuesday that entered Israeli airspace without identifying itself. The plane was forced down and security officials are investigating the incident.

POLITICS, DOMESTIC & MORE:

*The march against the eviction of families from Bet HaShalom is scheduled to get underway on Tuesday.

*PM Olmert in his farewell to Washington D.C., met with senior Bush administration officials.

*Runoff elections being held in a number of municipalities in Israel today.

*Officials report serious safety concerns in most of the nation’s schools.

*Netanyahu signals he will not amend the party’s primary system which was decided upon last week.

*72% of Israelis feel the ‘system’ is too corrupt.

*101 people were injured in road accidents nationwide on Monday.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)