Both Minister of Foreign Affairs Silvan Shalom and Minister of Finance Benjamin Netanyahu gave policy statements today at the Herzliya Conference on security issues, HAARETZ reported. Shalom said that the road map was currently the best plan to achieve peace with the Palestinians and called for the further easing of restrictions on the Palestinian civilian population.

He urged for the rapid construction of the security fence, explaining it was a key element in Israel's fight against terrorism. Shalom added that should talks with the Palestinians fail, then the Syrian track should be explored.

Netanyahu said the government would allocate an additional NIS 700 million next year for the security fence. "We will build this fence, the sooner the better," Netanyahu said, adding that the extra funds for the fence would come from raising taxes on diesel fuel, a measure that went into effect late Tuesday.

The finance minister regretted that Israel does not currently have a Palestinian partner for negotiations on a permanent status agreement. Both Shalom and Netanyahu took position against a unilateral withdrawal by Israel from the West Bank and Gaza.

Security services have registered 52 terror alerts today since daybreak, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. A security alert has been announced for the Samaria region, where police and Israel Defense Forces are boosting their presence and setting up roadblocks along route 55 and in the vicinity of Oranit, Yakir and the Kafr Kassem outskirts.

The IDF arrested 9 Palestinians in the West Bank overnight Tuesday, including one Islamic Jihad member near Ramallah, a Hamas member in Tulkarm, and two more west of Hebron.

The trial of Palestinian Authority legislator Hossem Hader opened this morning at the Salem Military Court. Hader, a Tanzim leader, is accused of aiding and funding terror attacks carried out by the Al Aksa Martyrs' Brigade.

In other news, the coordinator of government activities in the West Bank and Gaza and the IDF announced on Tuesday the further easing-up of restrictions on the Palestinian population. After a prolonged period, the IDF reopened the Halhoul bridge to Palestinian traffic, thereby allowing passage between Halhoul and Hebron.

Scores of Palestinian stores located in close proximity to the Hebron Jewish community were also permitted to reopen, and roadblocks east of Halhoul and south of Meitzad, south of Bethlehem, were removed.

In recent weeks, the IDF removed roadblocks between Ramallah and Surda and the eastern entrance to Kalkilya. The number of merchants allowed to enter Israel from the West Bank has tripled and now stands at 9,000. Three thousand laborers from the West Bank who work in seasonal fruit picking and 6,000 other laborers were also able to enter.

Minister of Finance Binyamin Netanyahu and Knesset Finance Committee chairman Avraham Hirchson announced on Tuesday that beginning in 2005, all workers, whether salaried or self-employed, would be eligible for mandatory pensions of no less than the minimum wage (currently NIS 3,560 a month), HAARETZ reported. Mandatory pensions will apply to all self-employed workers who do not have pension plans, and to all salaried workers under 60 whose employers did not arrange pension plans. Employers will be required to insure workers aged 25 and up, beginning in the seventh month of their employment, while self-employed people will be required to take out income insurance of no less than the minimum wage. The directive will be enforced gradually, over five years.

About a million people presently lack pension arrangements, Hirchson said. Next week, Hirchson and the Finance Ministry will begin the legislation process by preparing a bill. Hirchson believes the bill can become a law within three months.

According to a poll released Tuesday by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR), Palestinian public support for suicide bomb attacks in Israel has dropped to its lowest level in three years, HA'ARETZ reported. A report on PSR's website stated that 48 percent of the representative 1,319 adults surveyed favored suicide bombings. It is the first time since March 2000 - six months before violence against Israel erupted - that less than half of the Palestinian population support this form of terrorism. As recently as October 2003, 59 percent of those surveyed by the independent institution backed suicide bombings.

PSR's latest survey also found that while 87 percent supported terror attacks on Israeli soldiers and Jewish residents in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, 83 percent also supported a complete, mutual cease-fire and 53 percent said they would back a Palestinian Authority crackdown on terrorists who violated such a truce. PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's rating declined as well, slipping to just 38 percent support from 50 percent in October. However, he remains more than twice as popular as any other public figure.

Meanwhile, talks are underway in Gaza, with Egyptian mediation, aimed at clinching a ceasefire between the Palestinian Authority and various Palestinian terrorist organizations.