Half a million cans of Gaza Cola have already been sold in Britain in stores and online.
Consumer boycotts are a significant part of protesting the war in Gaza.
Well-known companies such as McDonald’s and Starbucks have been targeted by boycotts. Activists have claimed they support Israel and its military.
According to the news agency AFP, Coca-Cola is rejected by the inhabitants of the Middle East as “too American”.
In Israel, Coca-Cola is bottled in the Atarot industrial area in occupied East Jerusalem. The drink has been boycotted because of that before.
The prolongation of the war in Gaza has ensured that the protest has not faded away. Alongside Kokis, competing products have been developed.
“The taste of freedom”
In Britain, Gaza Cola appeared on store shelves and online last summer. A London-based Palestinian activist is behind the product Osama Qashoowhich began developing the drink a year ago.
– Gaza Cola was difficult to develop because I am not a beverage expert, says Qashoo For Al-Jazeera.
According to him, the number one goal of the drink is to boycott companies that support the Israeli army.
Another reason was to develop “a taste free of guilt and genocide, a true taste of freedom,” he says.
Qashoo fled to Britain in 2003 after organizing a protest against Israel’s so-called security wall. In 2007, he became a founding member of the Free Palestine movement.
A six-pack of Gaza Cola costs 12 pounds in the online store. An equivalent amount of Coca-Cola costs £4.70.
According to Qashoo, the profits will be used to rebuild the maternity ward at al-Kamara hospital in the northwest of Gaza City. It is not known whether this was successful as the war continued.
Since August, half a million cans have been sold.
The collision front is wide
Gaza Cola joins a wide front of cola drinks supporting the Palestinian cause.
In Sweden, Palestine Cola is sold, which the manufacturers market as “the fresh taste of freedom”.
The background of the Swedish drink is the Palestinian-owned family company Safadfood AB. According to the company, sales of Palestine drinks are at their best 3–4 million cans per month.
According to Juomi’s website, the profits are directed to the benefit of Palestinians and children suffering from the war through their own foundation.
Matrix Cola, which produces cola drinks, has been operating in Jordan since 2008. It was a local equivalent and protest drink not only for Coca-Cola but also for Pepsi, which owns Sodastream, which operates from Israel.
Since 2019, the Palestinian territories themselves have also had Coca-Cola’s cola drink, Chat Cola, which resembles the red and white can.
– Demand has increased during the war thanks to the boycott, says the manager of the beverage factory Fahed Arar in an interview with news agency AFP.
According to him, Israel has stopped a large batch of raw materials needed for the production of the drink at the Jordanian border. Therefore, one production line has been closed recently.
Coca-Cola has not responded to AFP’s request for comment. The company says it does not support any religion, political ideology, government or state.
AFP
Other sources: Al Jazeera, The Jerusalem Post