Today I heard, and not for the first time, of possible abuses of Arabs at checkpoints on their way into Israel. Of course, the source of this information would call these 'systematic abuses' and, of course, the 'occupation' (the return of Israeli forces to areas of the Palestinian Authority after Mr. Arafat launched the Al-Aqsa Intifada War) would be 'corrupting' and said to have permanently ruined the Israeli soul.

Certainly, I am sensitive to concepts of human dignity and indignity. Certainly, I have been dignified and undignified and exposed to both dignities and indignities. Individuals have rights, though the definition, quality and dynamism of those rights change constantly. This is true even in relation to ourselves, how we 'treat' ourselves. Given the complexities of the human mind, we can respect or disrespect our own selves, and shift between these modes frequently.

Such is the human mind, the human condition. A wonderment.

Then we have the checkpoints. The 'challenge' derived from reported 'proof' of how Palestinian Arabs seeking nothing more than their daily bread inside the Green Line (that is called the 'Green Line' because it passes for a border, though it is not really that) are treated poorly. A Diaspora Jew traveled to Israel to visit a relative, apparently an immigrant from a Western country, and was persuaded to visit some checkpoints.

The source of the information about the checkpoint abuse was triumphant; another former supporter of human rights abuse was converted to the side of the worthy...

So, I thought, why are there checkpoints?

There are checkpoints so that: 1) Arabs can enter the bread-promising areas inside the Green Line; and 2) so that the Israelis wishing to employ them can avoid being blown up by the shahid among the checkpoint-passers.

There is rich evidence - in the form of explosions, burials, ambulances carrying bomb victims to hospitals, trauma centers, wheelchairs, etc., - that the shahids do exist. So, what is the problem with preventing the attacks? The problem is that in preventing them, Israel proves herself to be an ogre (and this in a world of niceness, apparently).

So, why again do the checkpoints really exist?

1) Because the Arabs can not make a living in the remaining areas of the PA;

2) Because the PA used all of the areas handed to it by Israel since 1993 to build a huge terror infrastructure effectively ruled by terror mafias, then used that infrastructure to attempt a war of annihilation against Israel from September 2000;

3) Because Israel allowed the diminished (physically) terror zones to continue to function at the urging of the international community, including the United States;

4) Because under the rules of the farce of ongoing Palestinian-Israeli peace talks, Israel needs a partner and that 'partner' is the PA of Arafat, who arranged for the Tanzim, Al-Aqsa Brigades and Hamas to flourish;

5) Because the Arab 'civilians' living in those zones must eat and feed their huge families spawned partly (or mostly?) in the name of Islam's ultimate victory over 'Jews and Crusaders', and it is out of the question that the PA should be responsible for them.

The ultimate reason for the checkpoints to exist is that they are a symbol. They are the symbol of Israeli guilt, an active expression of a liberal concept that we are responsible for our enemies' masses, no matter what. They are a symbol of the power of the manipulative international community to force an eternal 'peace process' upon an Israel that is unable or unwilling to resist the perpetuation of a sham. They are a symbol of the determination of the Arab and Muslim side, and its unabashed willingness to feed off the body of the creature it is determined to destroy - for as long as the host will allow it.

To the Israeli Left, ultimately, the checkpoints are evidence and pretext for the commission of more deeds of policy masochism that would, ultimately, lead to Israel's destruction.

I am against checkpoints, and for peace. Well, first I am for Israel's security, and so this makes me an 'enemy of peace'. So be it.