Although the European Union recognises Israeli settlements as illegal under international law, it continues to fund entities involved in and operating there.
The EU has been funding business or academic entities complicit with Israeli illegal settlements through its successive research programs.
While the 2013 Guidelines on the eligibility of Israeli entities for grants, prizes and financial instruments forbid the participation of entities established in Occupied Palestinian Territory or the funding of activities conducted in the OPT, they contain loopholes and are not properly implemented.