In the end it was a triumph of dogged persistence. For approaching two years now around thirty Palestine supporters have been regularly picketing the Ecostream store in Brighton under the broad banner of "Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS). On Tuesday workmen were seen taking down the signs and today Sodastream confirmed that their flagship store was about to close.

See Eco-Maniacs

Ecostream is a showcase store owned by Israeli company Sodastream who manufacture goods in the illegal settlement of Ma'ale Adumin on land confiscated from the Palestinians who lived there. During these two years Ecostream have tried and failed to sneak their way into the green conscience and deep pockets of Brighton residents.

At the beginning the store was picketed every Saturday by the Brighton Palestine Solidarity Campaign, so far – so normal. However the real intrigue began with the arrival of the Zionist massive. An eclectic bunch of outright bigots and Christian fundamentalists they counter-protested shouting strange slogans like "Free Frankenstein" and "Boycott the Boycotters".  . According to one regular pro-Palestine attendee “Their main tactic was a long way from making reasoned argument – they basically set out to harass us off the street with provocative filming and personal abuse.”

They call  themselves "Sussex Friends of Israel"  (SFI) and are headed up by one Simon Cobbs.   Mr Cobbs's followers counter-protested the BDS picket at every opportunity and according to our interviewee “clumsily pretended to care about the environment, women's rights, racism, gay and transgender rights, etc while at the same time speaking out against green issues, belittling women, making offensive racist comments that the EDL would avoid and welcoming Julie Burchill”.

The shop has always worked very closely with the SFI, even ringing Cobbs to inform him when any random mid-week BDS demos occurred so that he could turn up and give them grief.

The conflict escalated as both demo and counter-demo grew and the pavement on Western Rd was crowded with Israeli and Palestinian flags every Saturday. The Zionists got themselves rave reviews in the Jewish Chronicle and at times even seemed to be gaining the upper hand

“SFI's central argument seems to be based on the belief that anything since the wheel was invented in Israel and that the world should be grateful and that BDS are not only anti-semites but they smell too.   Mr Cobbs, it seems, knows how to throw a good party but not much else. He spends most of his time with his phone camera filming BDS members and then posting his short clips on his Facebook page which are avidly consumed by his adoring followers who are mostly equally crazed Zionists scattered around the world. In short the scene outside Ecostream has, for two hours every Saturday, resembled a playground and at other times the shop looks as empty as Simon Cobbs's good character. It is obvious that they make no more than about £6.85 a day.”

Both sides were entrenched in this very peculiar war of attrition and the announcement has come as a bolt from the blue. SFI said in a letter to their supporters “As some of you may be aware Ecostream was closed yesterday afternoon by its management. Neither I nor any of SFI received any notification of this”

 “The Sussex Friends of Israel spin is that the shop failed due to a lack of customers and that the regular pickets that had become a Brighton tourist attraction/iritation were nothing to do with it at all. Yeah OK. What is clear is that Simon Cobbs and his SFI cronies were kept in the dark about the shop's decision which they found out about long after BDS and must now be feeling like they've been used and cast aside as "useful idiots".  

"The campaign against the Ecostream shop is won and an important victory for Brighton but the global campaign against Sodastream and the on-going boycott continues".

Schnews salutes the dogged dedication and determination of the BDS campaigners and congratulates them on their important victory.