GAZA, PALESTINE — Israeli company SodaStream announced today it will open a new factory in the besieged Gaza Strip.
The announcement comes on the heels of a statement from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announcing it would cut food and general relief to Gaza, at a time when Palestinians living under an illegal blockade need it most.
In a statement on Wednesday, the WFP announced it would slash humanitarian relief to suffering Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as well as the occupied West Bank territories next year, blaming Washington’s own cuts to their organization.
According to the WFP, the budget cuts suggest that upwards of 166,000 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and besieged Gaza Strip will suffer a 20 percent reduction in food aid overall.
According to the World Food Programme’s own statistics, nearly a quarter of Gaza’s population, or 1.3 million people, lack access to nutritious food.
These agreements put Israeli institutions in charge of 71 percent of Palestinian water.
However, the Israelis also have a history of arbitrarily turning off Gaza’s water supplies.
SodaStream to mooch scarce Gaza water?
This SodaStream factory was located in one of the largest illegal Israeli settlements built on stolen Palestinian land, on the ruins of seven Palestinian villages whose inhabitants were forced out to make way for a Jewish-only town, in contravention of international law and decades of stated U.S. policy.” The BDS movement claims SodaStream is still subject to boycott, despite moving its factory, owing to the company’s complicity in Israel’s general policy of forcibly removing indigenous Palestinians from their homes.
Top Photo | A Palestinian girl holds plastic bottles waiting to fill them with drinking water at a public tap in town of Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip, July 27, 2014.

A proliferation of beverages that don’t fit within traditional drink categories is creating a headache for retailers, confusion for shoppers and a challenge for manufacturers that are trying to keep pace with changing consumer tastes.
#BeyondSoda Beverage makers are adding new flavors and new products as consumer tastes shift beyond traditional drinks like soda.
No longer do soda companies, coffee companies and alcohol companies stay in their lanes.
Anheuser-Busch InBev , the world’s largest beer brewer, is selling ready-to-drink ice tea and organic caffeinated sparkling water.
“I’m sure there’s some logic to it, but as a consumer it’s confusing.” The fermented tea kombucha is shelved in the organic produce section at a grocery store in Brooklyn, N.Y. Photo: STEPHANIE AARONSON/THE Wall Street JOURNAL That store has seven different sections devoted to cold drinks, in addition to coolers at every checkout lane stocked with bottles of soda, iced coffee and energy drinks.
PepsiCo’s outgoing Chief Executive Indra Nooyi more than a decade ago staked her career—and the company’s future—on a plan to expand the company’s portfolio into healthier, more nutritious products.
“The consumer is moving to this triangle of taste, nutrition and convenience where I think we are in a very sweet spot,” PepsiCo’s incoming CEO Ramon Laguarta said in a recent video to staff.
Zico in March launched a new line of “Coco-Lixirs” made from coconut water, cold-pressed juice and ingredients like ginger and turmeric.
The coffee company is calling the drink a “hybrid” of coffee and juice, and when it makes its way to retailers, CEO Todd Carmichael said he’s not sure where in stores it will be displayed.
Sometimes, though, companies go too far in trying to create new beverage categories.

For anyone growing up in the 70s and 80s having a SodaStream was the kitchen sink equivalent of a magic show with the gadget up there with Swap Shop and E.T.
as a pop culture reference for the era.
At that time the coveted “fizzy-drinks maker” was proudly displayed on 40% of British kitchen counters, attracting the kind of awed attention that a spiraliser could only dream off today.
But SodaStream, which is listed on New York’s Nasdaq exchange, has seen its share price more than double in the past year after it started downplaying the “soda” that inspired its name, and repositioned itself as a green alternative to glugging cans of Coke and Pepsi.
In the UK, most people use them to make sparkling water.
Sales of refills are up 34% this year.
To get started you can buy a machine and plastic bottles for £50 after which gas refills – which make 60 litres – cost £12.99.
To make soft drinks you have to buy flavourings, increasing the cost from 21.6p a litre for sparkling water to 66p for a cola or lemonade.
What a SodaStream does offer though is a route to cutting down on your consumption of single use plastic bottles if you have a fizzy drink habit.
“It’s easy and economical to enjoy water and delicious sparkling drinks made from tap water at home and without having to pollute the planet,” says Birnbaum.

Mayim Bialik and SodaStream Study the Primitive ‘Homoschlepiens’ and Their Bottled Water.
A cautionary tale from the year 2136 Picture a world where plastic bottles no longer exist.
A new campaign from the brand imagines a time when plastic bottles are relics from the past, relegated to display cases and museums.
Bialik plays a field researcher in the year 2136.
Her subject?
Homoschlepiens, or people who schlepped water around in plastic bottles.
The ad isn’t really meant to call people who use plastic bottles idiots, but hit home the idea that it is “primitive … to hydrate with single-use plastic bottles that pollute our Earth,” said Daniel Birnbaum, CEO of SodaStream.
“As a species, we have evolved so much, but much as we know plastic bottles pollute our environment and kill marine life, we continue to use them.
“I think that the future lies in reduction at the source.
This is what SodaStream stands for, and it’s why I am so happy to be a part of this campaign.

In this segment from Motley Fool Money, the team discusses the results of recent research regarding soda and bottled water consumption. As bottled water grows in popularity — and soda declines — investors will have to consider the long-term impact this trend will have on beverage industry leaders, including Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO), Pepsico (NYSE:PEP), and Sodastream (NASDAQ:SODA). A full transcript follows the video. Trump’s potential $1.6 trillion investment We aren’t politicos here at The Motley Fool. But we know a great investing opportunity when we see one. Our analysts spotted what could be a $1.6 trillion opportunity lurking in Donald Trump’s infrastructure plans. And given this team’s superb track record (more than doubling the market over the past decade*), you don’t want to miss what they found. They’ve picked 11 stocks poised to profit from Trump’s first 100 days as president. History has shown that getting in early on a good idea can often pay big bucks – so don’t miss out on this moment. *Stock Advisor returns as of March 6, 2017 This video was recorded on March 10, 2017. Chris Hill: Move over soda, there’s a new leader in the US. According to the latest research, Americans drank more bottled water in 2016 than soda. And Jason, we have seen soda consumption on the decline for over a decade. But I was still a little surprised by this news. Jason Moser: I actually was not, and the reason why was because I look at myself and I think — I mean, I have been so ingrained in my Diet Coke habit for so long, and if I have made such a drastic change in my…