SALFIT, West Bank (AP) 鈥� Order a Coke to wash down some hummus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank these days and chances are the waiter will shake his head disapprovingly 鈥� or worse, mutter 鈥渟hame, shame鈥� in Arabic 鈥� before suggesting the popular local alternative: a can of Chat Cola.
Chat Cola 鈥� its red tin and sweeping white script bearing remarkable resemblance to the iconic American soft drink's logo 鈥� has seen its products explode in popularity across the occupied West Bank in the past year as Palestinian consumers, angry at America鈥檚 in its , protest with their pocketbooks.
鈥淣o one wants to be caught drinking Coke,鈥� said Mad Asaad, 21, a worker at the bakery-cafe chain Croissant House in the West Bank city of Ramallah, which stopped selling Coke after the war erupted. 鈥淓veryone drinks Chat now. It鈥檚 sending a message.鈥�
triggered , the Palestinian-led boycott movement against companies perceived as supportive of Israel gained momentum across the Middle East, where the usual American corporate targets like , and saw .
Here in the West Bank, the boycott has shuttered two KFC branches in Ramallah. But the most noticeable expression of consumer outrage has been the sudden ubiquity of Chat Cola as shopkeepers relegate Coke cans to the bottom shelf 鈥� or pull them altogether.
鈥淲hen people started to boycott, they became aware that Chat existed,鈥� Fahed Arar, general manager of Chat Cola, told The Associated Press from the giant red-painted factory, nestled in the hilly West Bank town of Salfit. 鈥淚'm proud to have created a product that matches that of a global company."
With the 鈥渂uy local鈥� movement burgeoning during the war, Chat Cola said its sales in the West Bank surged more than 40% last year, compared to 2023.
While the companies said they had no available statistics on their command of the local market due to the difficulties of data collection in wartime, anecdotal evidence suggests Chat Cola is clawing at some of Coca-Cola鈥檚 market share.
鈥淐hat used to be a specialty product, but from what we鈥檝e seen, it dominates the market,鈥� said Abdulqader Azeez Hassan, 25, the owner of a supermarket in Salfit that boasts fridges full of the fizzy drinks.
But workers at Coca-Cola's franchise in the West Bank, the National Beverage Company, are all Palestinian, and a boycott affects them, too, said its general manager, Imad Hindi.
He declined to elaborate on the business impact of the boycott, suggesting it can't be untangled from the effects of the West Bank's economic free-fall and intensified Israeli security controls that have multiplied shipping times and costs for Palestinian companies during the war.
The Coca-Cola Company did not respond to a request for comment.
Whether or not the movement brings lasting consequences, it does reflect an upsurge of political consciousness, said Salah Hussein, head of the Ramallah Chamber of Commerce.
鈥淚t's the first time we've ever seen a boycott to this extent,鈥� Hussein said, noting how institutions like the prominent Birzeit University near Ramallah canceled their Coke orders. 鈥淎fter Oct. 7, everything changed. And after Trump, everything will continue to change.鈥�
President Donald Trump鈥檚 call from Gaza, which he as a recommendation, has further inflamed around the region.
With orders pouring in not only from Lebanon and Yemen but also the United States and Europe, the company has its sights set on the international market, said PR manager Ahmad Hammad.
Hired to help Chat Cola cash in on , Hammad has rebranded what began in 2019 as a niche mom-and-pop operation.
鈥淲e had to take advantage of the opportunity,鈥� he said of the company's new 鈥淧alestinian taste鈥� logo and national flag-hued merchandise.
In its scramble to satisfy demand, Chat Cola is opening a second production site in neighboring Jordan. It rolled out new candy-colored flavors, like blueberry, strawberry and green apple.
At the steamy plant in Salfit, recent college graduates in lab coats said that they took pains to produce a carbonated beverage that could sell on its taste, not just a customer鈥檚 sense of solidarity with the Palestinians.
鈥淨uality has been a problem with local Palestinian products before,鈥� said Hanna al-Ahmad, 32, the head of quality control for Chat Cola, shouting to be heard over the whir of machines squirting caramel-colored elixir into scores of small cans that then whizzed down assembly lines. 鈥淚f it鈥檚 not good quality, the boycott won鈥檛 stick."
Chat Cola worked with chemists in France to produce the flavor, which is almost indistinguishable from Coke鈥檚 鈥� just like its packaging. That's the case for several flavors: Squint at Chat's lemon-lime soda and you might mistake it for a can of Sprite.
In 2020, the Ramallah-based National Beverage Company sued Chat Cola for copyright infringement in Palestinian court, contending that Chat had imitated Coke's designs for multiple drinks. The court ultimately sided with Chat Cola, determining there were enough subtle differences in the can designs that it didn't violate copyright law.
In the Salfit warehouse, drivers loaded 鈥渇amily size鈥� packages of soda into trucks bound not only for the West Bank but also for Tel Aviv, Haifa and other cities in Israel. Staffers said that Chat soda sales in cities jumped 25% last year. To broaden its appeal in Israel, Chat Cola secured kosher certification after a Jewish rabbi's thorough inspection of the facility.
Still, critics of the Palestinians-led , say that its main objective 鈥� to isolate Israel economically for its occupation of Palestinian lands 鈥� only exacerbates the conflict.
鈥淏DS and similar actions drive communities apart, they don鈥檛 help to bring people together,鈥� said Vlad Khaykin, the executive vice president of social impact and partnerships in North America for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization. 鈥淭he kind of rhetoric being embraced by the BDS movement to justify the boycott of Israel is really quite dangerous.鈥�
While Chat Cola goes out of its way to avoid buying from Israel 鈥� sourcing ingredients and materials from France, Italy and Kuwait 鈥� it can't avoid the , in which Israel dominates , controls borders, imports and more.
Deliveries of raw materials to Chat Cola鈥檚 West Bank factory get hit with a 35% import tax 鈥� half of which of the Palestinians. The general manager, Arar, said his company's success depends far more on Israeli bureaucratic goodwill than nationalist fervor.
For nearly a month last fall, Israeli authorities detained Chat's aluminum shipments from Jordan at the , forcing part of the factory to shut down and costing the company tens of thousands of dollars.
Among the local buyers left in the lurch was Croissant House in Ramallah, where, on a recent afternoon, at least one thirsty customer, confronting a nearly empty refrigerator, slipped to the supermarket next-door for a can of Coke.
鈥淚t's very frustrating,鈥� said Asaad, the worker. 鈥淲e want to be self-sufficient. But we're not.鈥�
Isabel Debre, The Associated Press
