The United States said Monday it would stop funding scientific research with Israeli academic institutions in the West Bank, distancing itself from Jewish state policy in the occupied territory.
The move by Joe Biden’s Democratic administration reverses a move taken under his predecessor Donald Trump, who rejected the international consensus that Israel has illegally occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War.
The new guidelines to US government agencies state that “engaging in bilateral technological and scientific cooperation with Israel in geographic areas that came under Israeli administration after 1967 and are still subject to final status negotiations does not is inconsistent with United States foreign policy,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
He stressed that Washington “places great importance on technological and scientific cooperation with Israel”, saying that restrictions on funding in the West Bank reflect “the long-standing American position, which dates back decades”.
The ruling will most notably apply to Ariel University, a major institution founded in 1982 on what was then a new settlement in the West Bank.
Members of the Republican party were quick to criticize the ad. Senator Ted Cruz thus accused the Biden administration of “anti-Semitic discrimination” against Jews in the West Bank.
And David Friedman, Trump’s former ambassador to Israel, accused the government of aligning itself with the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement. The administration says it opposes this movement, which calls for an economic, cultural or scientific boycott of Israel in order to obtain an end to the occupation and colonization of the Palestinian Territories.
Under Mike Pompeo, Donald Trump’s Secretary of State, the United States had moved to normalize Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including letting their products be stamped ” Made in Israel “.
The Biden administration has returned to the longstanding US position of calling for a two-state solution with the Palestinians, and criticizing settlement expansion under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Biden administration has not, however, engaged in any meaningful attempt to broker a peace deal, viewing the prospects as highly unlikely with Mr Netanyahu, who leads the most right-wing government in Israel’s history.