A Palestinian resident of Ras KarKar, a West Bank village located near Modiin, claimed Wednesday that a Jewish settler tied his 17-year-old son to an All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) and dragged him through an olive grove. [“Another settler pointed his gun at me to stop me from responding,” he said. The Judea and Samaria police conducted an investigation after a complaint was filed.]* 

About a month before Kadima primary elections and contrary to expectations within the party, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is in front of the other three candidates. An opinion poll aired by Channel 10 yesterday that surveyed 1,200 registered Kadima members found that Livni has 35% of the votes while Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz has only 25%. The other candidates—Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit and Domestic Security Minister Avi Dichter—received only 4% of the votes.

The Basatin prosecutor’s office ordered the release of two policemen station at the Dar al-Salam metro stop pending an investigation into an assault on attorney Mohammed Reda and his detention in the subway police station. The prosecutor also released the lawyer and one of his relatives on bail of LE100 each.

A Saudi court decided to imprison and lash a young man after he seduced a minor and when she did not accede to his demands, threatened to publish photos of her on the internet.

Jews in Israel on Sunday lamented the destruction of the First and Second Temples at the Western Wall plaza and synagogues across the country. The Third Temple has not been built yet and there are people who are already concerned with the next destruction.

The EU has again expressed its concern for construction in Jerusalem and its environs. The EU issued a statement this morning expressing its concern for the approved construction of 400 housing units in the Neve Yaakov area of Jerusalem and the announcement of a tender for 286 units in Beitar Ilit and 130 units in Har Homa. The statement said that such construction undermines the peace process.

The Saudi authorities arrested a dissident Shiite cleric on Saturday, Sheikh Nimr Baqer al-Nimr, after he made a series of stinging statements asking the government to engage in “real reforms” in the field of religious freedom. The Rased news network reported that it had learned from informed sources that the security authorities asked Sheikh Nimr to come to the Qatif provincial building in the morning and arrested him as soon as he arrived.

A mechanic killed his five-year-old son, beating him to death and burying him at the Marg cemetery. The suspect was arrested and confessed to his crime, saying he did it because his child was incontinent.

Tunisia is a constitutional republic with a population of approximately 10 million, dominated by a single political party, the Democratic Constitutional Rally (RCD). Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has been the president since 1987. In the 2004 presidential election, President Ben Ali ran against three opposition candidates and was declared the winner with approximately 94 percent of the popular vote.