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Germany conditions future partnership with Israel on settlement funding ban

March 10, 2014 at 2:18 pm

The German government has said that future agreements with Israel on scientific cooperation or grants to Israel’s high-tech companies should include a clause stating that entities operating in East Jerusalem or the settlements in the West Bank are not eligible for the funding.


Israel’s Haaretz newspaper quoted an Israeli official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying that he fears the “escalatory” German move will serve as a model for other countries.

Meanwhile, the new head of the European Union’s delegation to Tel Aviv, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, warned that Israel will eventually have to pay the cost if it continues to construct new settlements while stalling the peace talks with the Palestinians. “Israel’s isolation will increase despite the EU’s desire to increase cooperation with it,” he said.

Andersen also believes the European request to boycott Israeli settlement products or to make them more visible to consumers by signalling them with special posters intensifies every time Israel announces a plan to build new settlements. Since the start of the year, Israel has already announced plans to build 2,791 new settler homes in the occupied Palestinian territories.