From the Dutch newssite Gaziantep Haber:
‘Israel war on Iran on the radar’
A senior European Union diplomat says the perfect time for Israel to strike Iranian nuclear installations ‘is between now and January 20′.
14 Kas?m 2008 Cuma 15:01
A possible Israeli strike against Iran is not completely off the radar,” Turkish paper Hurriyet quoted the diplomat as saying.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Friday that Tel Aviv is ‘convinced that Iran continues to try to build a nuclear weapon’.

“We don’t rule out any option. We recommend others don’t rule out any option either,” added Barak, in regards to Obama’s plans for Iran.

Tehran, a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), denies the Israeli claim, insisting that its enrichment program is solely directed at the civilian applications of the technology.

Israel, meanwhile, argues that the use of military force is a legitimate option in halting Iran’s nuclear progress.

“Israelis would consider a move such as this before Bush and Cheney leave,” said the EU diplomat, adding that once Obama takes office, Israel’s chances of striking Iran would be off the agenda.

President-elect of the United States Barack Obama will replace George W. Bush on January 20. While campaigning for the White House, Obama vowed to engage Iran with direct diplomacy in order to resolve the disputed nuclear issue.

In his first post-election press conference on Friday, Senator Obama said the international community has to mount an effort to prevent ‘Iran’s development of a nuclear weapon’.

The UN nuclear watchdog, which has extensively monitored Iran’s nuclear activities since 2003, concedes that it is not in a position to fully clarify the nature of the Iranian nuclear program.

The agency, however, announced in its latest Iran report that its inspectors have not found any ‘components of a nuclear weapon’ or ‘related nuclear physics studies’ in the country.”

“Israel will not tolerate a nuclear Iran, Maj.-Gen. (res.) Amos Gilad, the head of the Defense Ministry’s Diplomatic-Security Bureau, has stressed to The Jerusalem Post in an unusually hard-hitting interview. For now, Israel is backing diplomatic and economic efforts to thwart the Iranians, Gilad said, but it doubts these will work and it is keeping all options open.”

Jerusalem - “Israel’s and Germany’s security establishments are jointly developing a new and advanced system to locate ballistic missiles with a nuclear warhead known as “Bluebird,” according to Defense News. The system, described as a highly classified development, is meant to locate the ballistic missile by means of sensors and infrared rays and to identify, while moving, if it carries a nuclear warhead, explosives, or if it has no warhead.”

Iran test-fires new missile, Israel, US bases within reach.

TEHRAN: “Iran said it test-fired a new generation of surface-to-surface missile on Wednesday and was ready to defend itself against any attacker. They claim it has a range of close to 2,000 kilometres. That would enable it to reach Israel and US bases in the Gulf.”

Meanwhile, the border crossings between Israel and Gaza remain closed and starvation is a nearing prospect for the Gazans. Hamas was caught digging tunnels into Israel to be used to kidnap, torture and kill Israeli soldiers. Israel blew up the tunnels. Hamas then began a barrage of rocket attacks on Israel for blowing up their tunnels, and Israel responded by closing the border crossings. Now, Hamas is firing their longest-range rockets at a southern Israel city on Friday after an Israeli air force attack on their Gaza stronghold, and I can only guess what Israels response will be except that they have a far heavier foot than Hamas.

Certainly, the blockade won’t be lifted until either Hamas backs down or Israel stomps them flat once again, and in the meantime, the anti-Semitic UN is barking at Israel for starving those poor, poor Gazans and the other usual suspects like Switzerland are following suit.

The Israelis are also using the Hamas attacks to bulldoze more of their homes and farms in Gaza, and are building more settlements in the West Bank, which, although they are on Israeli land, do violate the last peace agreement when “Israel reiterated a commitment to freeze all settlement activity when Middle East peace talks were revived at a US-sponsored conference in November 2007.”

The point of this post is that pressure is steadily escalating on all parties concerned. Iran is pushing harder and getting louder and more threatening day by day. Syria is a never-ending threat, constantly demanding that Israel give up land, Hamas is constantly attacking Israel, Fatah is constantly demanding they give up land, Hezbollah next door in Lebanon is a constant threat, and it’s all getting bigger and louder and more oppressive.

Something has to give. The only way to reduce the pressure is to destroy the sources of it. Diplomacy has failed utterly for years in the face of implacable enemies and the world has been waiting for the shoe to drop for so long now that when it finally does, it will come as a relief.