USA Stops Funding Israeli Universities in Occupied West Bank

The United States of America (USA) announced that it would stop funding scientific research with Israeli academic institutions in the occupied West Bank.

The decision of President Joe Biden's administration reverses a step taken by former President Donald Trump's administration, which rejected the broad international consensus that Israel has illegally occupied the West Bank since 1967.

The new directive to US government agencies states that "engaging in bilateral scientific and technological cooperation with Israel in geographic areas administered by Israel after 1967 and still subject to final status negotiations is contrary to US foreign policy," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

Miller stressed that the United States "highly values scientific and technological cooperation with Israel," adding that the restrictions imposed on funding scientific research in the West Bank "reflect the long-term US position."

The decision particularly affects Ariel University, a major academic institution established in 1982 on the lands of a then-new settlement in the West Bank.