Gaza Cola, The Story Behind A 'Taste Of Freedom' (X image @TurkeysEconomyC)
London, UK: A guilt free buzzing ‘taste of freedom’ is something all the pro-Palestinian supporters crave for. Since Cola and Pepsico are widely boycotted for its alleged alliance with arming Israeli military in their genocide in Gaza, soft-drinks are something the Palestine supporters crave and hate simultaneously.
Osama Qashoo has a perfect recipe for a beverage with a message and a mission. Made from a typical coal ingredients, he produced a Gaza Cola, which is creating a buzz.
The cherry-red soda cans decorated with black, white and green stripes of Palestinian flag, and Arabic artwork, bordered with a kaffiyeh pattern. The ‘Gaza Cola’ is written in Arabic calligraphy, in a script similar to that of a popular brand of cola. The cola is posing high demand.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Qashoo pointed out that the drink, which is made from typical cola ingredients and has a sweet and acidic taste similar to Coca-Cola, “is totally different from the formula that Coke uses”.
While refusing to share the recipe of the drink, Qashoo affirmed that he had created the drink in November 2023.
He said he created Gaza Cola for several reason, but “number one was to boycott companies that support and fuel the Israeli army and support the genocide” in Gaza. Another reason: “To find a guilt-free, genocide-free kind of taste. The real taste of freedom”.
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While it may sound like a marketing tagline, Qashoo will not compromise his Palestinian blood and pride for anything.
He co-founded the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a group that uses nonviolent direct action to challenge and resist the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land in 2021.
The organisation paved the way for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement four years later, Qashoo explains. BDS has boycotted companies and products they say play a direct part in Israel’s oppression of Palestinians. The results are visible as McDonald’s and other such companies came forward announcing their dip in sales.
“These companies that fuel this genocide, when you hit them in the most important place, which is the revenue stream, it definitely makes a lot of difference and makes them think”. He said Gaza Cola is “going to build a boycott movement” that will hit Coke financially.
It was not easy to create Gaza Cola. “Gaza Cola was a very hard and painful process because I’m not an expert in the drink industry,” says Qashoo. “Every potential partner was suggesting compromise: compromise the colour, compromise the font, compromise the name, compromise the flag”, he says. “And we said, ‘No, we’re not compromising on any of this’”.
Creating the logo of the drink was also. He wanted to create a brand which is quite clear and does not beat around the bush. “Gaza Cola is straightforward with honest and clear messaging”.
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Finding places to stock the drink, which is produced in Poland and imported to the UK to save money, was a problem. “Obviously, we can’t get to the big markets because of the politics behind it,” says Qashoo.
He began by getting local Palestinian restaurants to carry Gaza Cola. The drink is also sold by Muslim retailers such as Manchester-based Al Aqsa, which recently ran out of stock, according to the store’s manager, Mohammed Hussain. Since early August, 500,000 cans of Gaza Cola have been sold.
On online, a six-pack of Gaza Cola goes for 12 British pounds ($15). For comparison, a six-pack of Coke sells for about 4.70 pounds ($6).
All profits from the drink are being donated towards rebuilding the maternity ward of the al-Karama Hospital, northwest of Gaza City, says Qashoo, as quoted by Al Jazeera.
Gaza Cola is not the only one battling to raise awareness of Palestine, and boycott against big-name colas operating in Israel.
Palestine Drinks, a Swedish company that launched in February, sells an average of 3 to 4 million cans of their drinks (one is a cola) per month, told co-founder Mohamed Kiswani to Al Jazeera. Matrix Cola, which was created in Jordan in 2008 as a local alternative to Coke and Pepsi and operates its main SodaStream factory in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, reported in January that production had doubled in recent months.
X image @BrightonPSC
Spiro Spathis, Egypt’s oldest carbonated drinks company, saw a big spike in sales during their “100% Made in Egypt” campaign last year.
Qashoo is now working on the next version of Gaza Cola, one with more fizziness. He hopes that every sip of Gaza Cola reminds people of Palestine’s plight. “We need to remind generations after generations of this horrible holocaust,” he says. “It’s happening and it’s been happening for 75 years.”
“It just needs to be a tiny, gentle reminder, like, ‘By the way, enjoy your drink, greetings from Palestine’”.
Qashoo was forced to flee his motherland in 2003 after organising peaceful demonstrations against what he calls the “apartheid wall”, a separation barrier built by Israel inside the West Bank, recognised as the barrier between Israel and the Palestinian territory.
He came to United Kingdom as a refugee, and became a film student. He was determined to never let the Palestinian stories diminish. He won Al Jazeera New Horizon Award in 2006, for his trilogy, A Palestinian Journey.
