-Israel started Wednesday talks with the European Union over Horizon 2020, the financial instrument implementing the EU's flagship initiative aimed at securing Europe's global competitiveness.
Running from 2014 to 2020 with an €80 billion budget, the EU’s new programme for research and innovation is part of the drive to create new growth and jobs in Europe.
Israel is the only non-EU member state invited to participate to the program but it is now subject to new regulations forbidding EU research grants to Israeli entities or individuals working in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. The new directive banning these entities was issued by the EU Commission last month ? infuriating the Israeli authorities.
The directive also calls on Israel to sign a territorial clause reneging on claims to East Jerusalem, the Goland Heights and the West Bank before entering into any further agreement with the EU.
Israel's foreign ministry said in a statement that talks over the EU's Horizon 2020 program began in Israel on Wednesday. It said if a compromise is not reached, Israel wouldn't renew its participation in the program.
Israel says it rejects Europe's terms because they violate Israeli regulations against supporting settlement boycotts. But it doesn't want to lose access to hundreds of millions of dollars in potential research grants.
It's unclear how much room there is for compromise about the new EU guidelines amid the renewal of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the new EU directive ‘’undermines peace by hardening Palestinian positions’’ while Isreli President Shimon Peres urged the EU to freeze its decision.