DALLAS (AP) — Texas A&M University has scrapped plans for a $200 million campus in the Israeli city of Nazareth.

A&M is instead launching a $6 million marine research center to contribute to projects Israel is pursuing along the Mediterranean Sea.

The teaching and research center, to open in February in collaboration with the University of Haifa (HY'-fuh), is a departure from plans announced in 2013. A&M System Chancellor John Sharp had said a "peace university" was planned for Nazareth to bring Arabs and Jews together.

Sharp told The Associated Press last week that A&M changed its plans because elected officials in Nazareth wanted to dictate the direction and aim of the campus.

Large natural gas deposits have been discovered in the eastern Mediterranean. Work at the center will include monitoring ocean flow.

 

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