The Biden administration notified Israel two weeks ago that it was reimposing a ban that prohibits U.S. taxpayer funding from being used in any research and development or scientific cooperation projects conducted in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, according to three U.S. and Israeli officials.

Why it matters: The Biden administration’s decision reverses a Trump administration policy from late 2020 that allowed U.S. taxpayer funding to be used for science and technology projects in the settlements for the first time since 1967.

Flashback: The Trump administration rolled back the ban in late October 2020, just a few weeks before the U.S. presidential elections.

• The ban had impacted three U.S.-Israeli scientific cooperation foundations, which werebarred from conducting any projects in the settlements that received U.S. taxpayer funding.
• Since they were formed in the 1970s, the foundations invested about $1.5 billion in research and development institutions inside Israel.

Behind the scenes: The State Department decided to reverse the Trump-era policy not long after President Biden assumed office, but it didn't need to take any steps to implement the ban until recently, according to a source briefed on the issue.

• After researchers from an institute in the settlements applied for a grant from one of the foundations, the State Department told other U.S. government agencies and the Israeli government that it was reverting to the pre-2020 policy of limiting U.S....

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