tyrayudiz

Israeli drinks maker SodaStream has announced it is shutting its controversial factory in the occupied West Bank after activists launched a campaign to boycott the company.

The firm said it would relocate the plant to a facility to Lehavim in Israel's southern Negev region by the end of 2015.

It made the announcement alongside news it had seen a 9% fall in sales.

SodaStream representative Nirit Hurwitz insisted the move was for "purely commercial" reasons and not linked to criticism over the factory's location.

The planned closure was welcomed by Palestinian activists behind the boycott campaign, who say the factory is an Israeli settlement.

The Palestinian Boycott Committee pushes for a ban on Israeli products "profiting from occupation". 

The dispute over the factory hit the headlines earlier this year after actress Scarlett Johansson came under fire for featuring in SodaStream's ad campaign.

At the time she was an ambassador for British charity Oxfam, which opposes all trade from Israeli settlements it says are illegal and deny Palestinian rights.

Johansson later announced she was parting company with Oxfam due to a "fundamental difference of opinion".

SodaStream had heralded its West Bank factory as a "model of integration", saying it employs 500 Palestinians, 450 Arab Israelis and 350 Israeli Jews on the same salaries and with the same social security benefits. 

Palestinian employees "receive salaries four or five times that of the average wage in the territories controlled by Palestinian authorities", it said. 

SodaStream said the closure of its largest plant will save $9m (£5.6m) in production costs. 

It said it was also closing another plant in northern Israel.