EU may exclude Israel from program to finance development, research

European and Israeli officials said that the European Union may ban sums of millions of US dollars to Israel in objection of its suspension of what was described as peace steps with the Palestinians.

The Israeli daily Jerusalem Post quoted those officials as saying that a working group for the ministerial council of the European Union has decided to exclude Israel from the "5th Framework" program of the EU for the four coming years, adding that a final decision in this respect will be taken in the second week of January 1999.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to implement the second phase of redeployment in the West Bank as called for in the Wye River agreement which was supposed to have been made on December 18, under the pretext that the Palestinians have failed to halt violence and have not carried out their other obligations in the agreement signed by the two sides in October.