One would think, given the sheer number of checkpoints Palestinians traverse through, that pretty much all varieties of indignity would have been covered.

Ever resourceful, a private security firm responsible for the Sha’ar Efraim checkpoint near Tul Karm in the West Bank has devised the latest cruel and unusual checkpoint hell.

Frequently used by day workers, company staff now prohibit Palestinians from carrying food and liquids through the point, including packed lunches for the day ahead.

Managed for the Defense Ministry by Modi’in Ezrahi, the company has banned the following: large bottles of frozen water, large bottles of soft drinks, home-cooked food, coffee, tea and za’atar.

Za’atar. I ask you. Could they plumb any greater depths of petty malice? What is the likelihood of the fragrant and invaluable spice ever being utilized for nefarious means?

Falafel? Sure. My falafel are renowned for their tooth-breaking capabilities and should Palestinian fighters ever run out of ammunition, my delicacies could pass through a plank of wood like a knife through butter.

I’m not sure whether it is the prospect of Palestinian workers being compelled to endure 12-hour working days stripped of their food and water that most incenses, or the pettiness over the za’atar.

Rather inevitably the primary motivation behind the ban is pecuniary; hot, thirsty, hungry and desperate the workers have little option but to relinquish their hard-earned cash in the more pricey Israeli stores littering the district.

Ultimately, in this instance hard-nosed consumerism claims the day and the conflict, the checkpoints, and well-being – not to mention human rights – of the workers become mere details.

Little surprise then, that the Israeli Defense Forces declined to comment when quizzed by the human rights group MachsomWatch (Checkpoint Watch), while Modi’in Ezrahi directed all queries to the similarly muted Defense Ministry.