More than 600 Israeli intellectuals, senior academics and leading artists send a petition to President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Catherine Ashton in support of the European Union guidelines that exclude funding of Israeli entities active in the occupied territories.

Signatories of the petition include seven Israel Prize laureates (Dani Karavan, Alex Levac, David Tartakover, Shimon Sandbank, Zeev Sternhell, Yehoshua Kolodny and David Harel), as well as playwright Yehoshua Sobol, former Director-General of the Isra

Letter signed by 15 former EU leaders counters attempts by Israel and U.S. to scrap or delay the move to stop cooperating with firms in the settlements.

A group of 15 former senior European officials has urged the European Union not to soften or delay new settlement guidelines slated to take effect on January 1, and in particular to ensure they apply to the Horizon 2020 scientific cooperation program.

The letter, dated September 16, was sent to all EU foreign ministers by the European Eminent Persons Group, whose stated goal is promoting Israeli-Palestinian peace.