The Iran-Israeli War of 2008 has yet to begin, but its onset has come a step closer with reports coming from several Israeli news agencies that IAF planes have been practicing in Iraqi airspace.

According to Iraqi Ministry of Defense officials, Israeli warplanes have been coming through Jordanian airspace and conducting exercises from several US military posts including al-Assad airbase outside Haditha, Iraq. The officials also suggested that the practice runs were for a potential strike on Iranian nuclear reactors.

The endless tension over a possible conflict has been a key factor in the rising price of oil. The new reports Friday of Israeli planes in Iraqi sent the price up $5 to over $147 per barrel.

Last month, Israeli planes conducted a massive exercise over the Mediterranean, traveling an equal distance to what it would take to reach Iran, practicing refueling and rescue maneuvers. Some reports suggested it was a “dress rehearsal” for an attack on Iran, but the new Iraqi reports would put them much closer to their target.

Posturing and speculation has been mounting for months—even years considering Iran’s “Axis of Evil” designation—about a new Iranian war. Iran President Ahmadinejad has threatened the complete destruction of Israel countless times. Israeli officials have said time is running out to attack Iran. And in the middle is the United States, pushing sanctions on Iran, but only quietly contemplating war.

An Iran-Israel war could not happen without the green light of the United States. Israeli planes would need to cross Turkish, Saudi, or Iraqi airspace—and the first two are not likely to agree. If Iran chooses to strike first, Secretary Rice said yesterday that the US would defend Israel.

Iranian reports have recently claimed that any attack on its soil would result in attacks on Israel and American military bases in the region. Thus, allowing Israel to strike Iran would not be a passive move by the US military, and it would complicate the Presidential election.

Surprise! Israel and Palestine aren’t taking to their new living arrangement easily. Less than a week after Hamas and Israel declared a truce, it is in danger of breaking.

Early this morning in the Middle East, IAF jets bombed the West Bank killing two Palestinians. One of the dead is a commander in the splinter group Islamic Jihad, the other a university student. In response they fired three rockets at Israel, “lightly wounding two people” according to Israel’s national rescue service.

Prime Minister Olmert’s office has just declared the truce broken, but it remains to be seen what action the Israeli military will take. Hamas, on the other hand, says it is still committed to the truce.

Even though Islamic Jihad is not part of the Hamas structure, Israel still expects Hamas to keep them and other separatists in line as a part of the peace accord. Islamic Jihad, when taking credit for the response attack, said it “cannot keep its hands tied” while Israel targets Palestinians in the West Bank.

Israel has said the West Bank was never part of the truce, and maintains its right to carry out attacks there.

The weekend after the truce seemed promising. The Palestinian Authority, led by Fatah, released three Hamas prisoners as the two rival factions attempted to move the reconciliation process forward. On Sunday, the Israeli military began easing its blockade on southern Gaza, allowing desperately needed supplies into the starvation-stricken zone.

Israel will not completely lift the blockade until Hamas returns captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Egypt has been working since the truce was announced last week to secure the soldier’s release, moving forward for peace.

In a potentially related story, an Israeli police office was found dead at Ben-Gurion airport today, as an Israeli delegation held a formal farewell for visiting French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The officer appears to have fallen from a building after being shot, though suicide has not been ruled out as the cause.

On Tuesday, Egyptian and Palestinian officials announced a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel. Scheduled to take effect at 6am on Thursday, this truce, if it holds, will be the first step towards reunifying Palestine and a more permanent peace with Israel.

Israel just confirmed the truce. Before the confirmation, however, while Egypt was making the announcement that Hamas was ceasing hostilities, IAF jets bombed several targets in the Gaza Strip, killing at least six.

Though this bombing could be perceived as a measure of bad faith on the part of Israel, Hamas has withheld a response attack thus far. Since driving Fatah forces out of the Gaza Strip a year ago, Hamas has fired rockets into Israel on a daily basis. However, according to this agreement, those salvos will now stop.

According to a Hamas spokesman, the agreement includes “a cessation of fire, ending the blockade and reopening the closed border crossings of the Gaza Strip.” A separate report from the BBC says that, pending a successful cease-fire, negotiations will begin to return captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Tuesday’s bombing and peace agreement come in the wake of a bloody week of fighting. Israeli bombers have killed over 20 people in the past seven days, with Hamas launching over 90 rockets of their own, though with little effect.

In addition to stopping the cycle of violence, this agreement will ease the economic burden of Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, who have been living under an Israeli blockade for over a year.

Opening the Egyptian-Gaza border is a first step towards stabilizing the isolated territory. And a stable Gaza Strip is necessary for a unified Palestine. Before a permanent peace between Israel and Palestine is reached the Arab factions—Hamas and Fatah—must work out their own peace. If the new truce holds, the next stages of peace are around the corner.

Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats are up in arms at President Bush’s remarks yesterday in Israel that criticized those who want to appease terrorists. Although he wasn’t mentioned by name, Obama and others, such as Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, seem to think the president was referring to him specifically.

The Washington Times’ Jon Ward reports that Ed Gillespie, counselor to the president, told reporters aboard Air Force One today that he was “surprised and curious as to the reaction,” adding that the concern prior to the speech was that people would think the president’s comments were a slap at former President Jimmy Carter and his meetings with Hamas, not Obama and his foreign policy stance. Implying that the reaction by Obama and his fellow Democrats may have been driven by the media’s interpretation of the speech rather than the words in the speech itself, Gillespie went on to say, “We don’t necessarily live in a world where people just report what the president says, they have to report what they think it means.”

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas needs to take a chance for peace. Facing the possibility of another lengthy conflict, Abbas needs to risk his Fatah party, condemn rival Palestinian party Hamas for its attacks on Israel, and stand behind, of all people, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Five days of intense Israeli counterinsurgency operations in the Gaza Strip proved fruitless Tuesday when Hamas Palestinian militants resumed their rocket salvos over the border, sparking a quick response from the Israeli Defense Forces. Since IDF sent troops into Gaza last week at least 110 Palestinians have been killed, many of them women and children caught in the crossfire.

Protesting civilian deaths and fearing a Palestinian backlash if he supports Israel, Abbas broke off peace talks and demanded a truce. Secretary Condoleeza Rice brought him back to the table yesterday.

Abbas’s attitude of public sympathy for Hamas is continuing the conflict, however. Hamas operatives continue to hide amongst civilians in Gaza, then point to the mounting death tolls and feed a spirit of revenge.

Olmert says the operation in Gaza will continue, and the Israeli Consular General of New York defended the assaults: “No other western country would tolerate such aggression against its own people, on its own soil… Israel must defend itself or Hamas will succeed in getting what it wants.”

Of course, what Hamas wants is violence. Abbas must rally the Palestinian people against Hamas, taking a clear stand for peace with Israel and against continued attacks on the homes of the Gazan people. Olmert must also take a chance and stand for peace with Abbas. The question for Israel remains: can Fatah stand strong in the face of Palestinian cries for revenge, uniting the people around an idea of an end to bloodshed?

Many American evangelicals and fundamentalists like Jews.  This is mostly for two reasons: the theology of dispensationalism and the legacy of the theology of dispensationalism, which is to say, some American Christians are very much dispensationalists, and others are just stuck in a Christian subculture that still has a lot of that theological residue on it, even if they don’t really believe in it.  This article is a good primer on dispensationalism and why it’s led many Christians to support Israel.  And why American Jews don’t really support those who support them.

Evangelical Christians have a high opinion not just of the Jewish state but of Jews as people. That Jewish voters are overwhelmingly liberal doesn’t seem to bother evangelicals, despite their own conservative politics. Yet Jews don’t return the favor: in one Pew survey, 42 percent of Jewish respondents expressed hostility to evangelicals and fundamentalists. As two scholars from Baruch College have shown, a much smaller fraction-about 16 percent-of the American public has similarly antagonistic feelings toward Christian fundamentalists.

According to City Journal, though, American Jews need to embrace their Christian supporters.  It’s worth reading.

Mitchell Cohen says he is very left.  He doesn’t even really get too mad when you call him a socialist.  He says that there’s a kind of Leftist who doesn’t learn.

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For Iranian Jews wanting to move to Israel, it’s not easy to get out. Government-imposed travel restrictions prohibit them from taking furniture, most possessions, and large amounts of cash, making it impossible to take anything more than a few suitcases out of the country.

That’s where the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews comes in. Based in Chicago and Jerusalem, the organization works closely with the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem and the Israeli government, offering $10,000 grants to repatriating Jews.

Since Jews are allowed to take so little from Iran, the money often goes toward renting an apartment and purchasing furniture or appliances. Arriving in Israel, Jewish immigrants go through an absorption center where they receive services such as language training and, for the children, basic education. The government also provides food aid and job training, so that incoming Jews have whatever help they need in finding their feet again.

Do Iranian Jews want to leave Iran? It depends on circumstances, according to the IFCJ. Some who are older and economically well-off prefer to stay and weather the storm. Many, however, dislike living in a hostile country. They are concerned about the presence of a secret police, the heavily-stacked conditions in Parliament (the Jewish community is represented by one of 290 seats), and the intensifying radicalism of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad against Israel.

IFCJ works to bring Jews from other volatile areas of the world as well. Ethiopia is one of its current projects. Argentina and the former Soviet Union have received its services in the past. The goal of these operations, according to the IFCJ , is not to coax Jews to return to Israel, but to help those who wish to return safely to their homeland.

Like it or not, marketers see Christians as a niche market with profit potential. So it shouldn’t surprise anyone when something like “Christian wine” comes along. According to U.S. wine importer Haroz Vintners, The Grapes of Galilee wines from Israel are made from grapes “grown by the Sea of Galilee and watered by the Jordan River” and can be served at celebrations such as wedding receptions and communion. In a press release, Haroz Vintners’ Adam Haroz said, “The history of this wine is something that we can all share together. I hope to provide a way to strengthen the bond between Israel and many other people through bringing wine from Galilee to the houses of the Christian community.” What’s the bouquet here? Is this crass Christian commercialism or a novel connection to our spiritual homeland?