Tel Aviv  - Israeli police stopped an extreme-right Jewish activist from reaching an Arab town in northern Israel Tuesday, where he was to have headed a polling station, police said.

Baruch Marzel, of the ultra-nationalist, pro-settler National Union, was arrested several junctions before the town and told he would not be allowed to enter because he "posed a threat to public peace" and could "endanger his life," Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said.

Tel Aviv  - Some 9,500 polling stations across Israel opened at 7 am (0500 GMT) Tuesday morning as voters were set to elect a new parliament - the 18th in the country's 60-year history.

Approximately 4.8 million eligible voters are to chose from 33 lists in the proportional elections, with pre-election surveys predicting a tight race between the hawkish Likud party, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, and the centrist Kadima party led by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

Tel Aviv  - Some 9,500 polling stations across Israel opened at 7 am (0500 GMT) early Tuesday morning as voters were set to elect a new parliament - the 18th in the country's 60-year history.

Approximately 4.8 million eligible voters are to chose from 33 lists in the proportional elections, with pre-election surveys predicting a tight race between the hawkish Likud party, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, and the centrist Kadima party led by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

Tel Aviv  - Israel is to seal off the Occupied West Bank, preventing Palestinians from entering the Jewish state during the country's election day Tuesday, the military spokesman said.

The closure, which will last for 24 hours, from midnight (2200 GMT Monday), is being imposed "in light of security assessments," a statement from the Spokesman's Office said.

Tel Aviv  - Below are the main parties contesting Israel's upcoming election on Tuesday:

Kadima - Founded in late 2005 by then-premier Ariel Sharon after breaking away from the hawkish Likud, Kadima won the 2006 election, but polls show that under new leader, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, it may not emerge from Tuesday's election as the largest party.

Kadima is campaigning on a platform of continued peace talks with the Palestinians which will see Israeli and Palestinian states living side-by-side.

Tel Aviv  - Some 4.8 million Israelis (of a total population of 7.5 million) are eligible to vote in Tuesday's election.

Of them, 81 per cent are Jews, 14 per cent are Muslims, Arab- Christians or Druze, and 5 per cent are immigrants or their families who are not registered as Jews.

Voting will take place at 9,263 polling stations, including 56 in prisons, and 194 in hospitals.