- Title: Israel says U.S. will now fund Israeli research projects in West Bank, Golan
- Date: 28th October 2020
- Summary: PICTURES OF MAHMOUD ABBAS AND YASSER ARAFAT HANGING ON WALL
- Embargoed: 11th November 2020 14:49
- Keywords: Agreement Friedman Judea and Sameria Netanyahu
- Location: ARIEL SETTLEMENT, RAMALLAH, WEST BANK
- City: ARIEL SETTLEMENT, RAMALLAH, WEST BANK
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Middle East
- Reuters ID: LVA003D21L5JB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Israel and the United States on Wednesday (October 28) revised three agreements that will enable researchers in settlements to apply for U.S. government funds.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman also signed a new scientific and technology cooperation accord in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
Under the now-lifted prohibition, research money for Israelis could not be distributed in areas such as the West Bank that Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war. Most countries view permanent settlements on such land as a violation of the Geneva Conventions, though Israel disputes this.
"The Trump vision ... opens Judea and Samaria to academic, commercial and scientific engagement with the United States," Netanyahu said at the ceremony in Ariel, using biblical names for West Bank territory.
A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said lifting of the funding ban represented "American participation in the occupation of Palestinian lands".
The Trump administration last year effectively backed Israel's right to build West Bank settlements by abandoning a long-held U.S. position that they were "inconsistent with international law."
(Production: Ismael Khader, Nuha Sharaf) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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