This is part of why Arafat wouldn’t pull the trigger on Oslo

Or couldn’t, perhaps.

As Israel gets ready to celebrate its 60th birthday, a little reflection from the other side of the wadi:

A pre-state of Israel Jewish National Fund , a quasi-governmental group that was founded before the state of Israel to buy and develop land in Palestine and later oversaw land distribution in the Jewish state. The JNF also controls land owned by Palestinians before they fled or were driven from their homes when Israel was founded.

Uhh, yeah, if I had parents or grandparents who lost their land in 1947-48, and I didn’t think Oslo had adequately addressed this, which it didn’t, I’d want Arafat’s head on a platter or signatory hand on a chopping block.

Here’s another reason I can’t imagine why Israeli Arabs think the nation, on the cusp of its 60th birthday, is racist.

National insurance benefits depends on completing military service. Few Arabs serve in the army: unlike for Jews, service is not compulsory.

If I were an Arab, why would I want to serve in the Israeli Army?

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s spokesman, Mark Regev, says these things are just “differences of opinion,” not racism.

Umm, sure.