A US higher education institution has scrapped its plan for a ¡°peace university¡± bringing Israelis and Palestinians together in Nazareth.

Texas A&M University announced proposals for the branch campus two years ago, choosing the northern Israeli city which has a large Palestinian population as the location.

But now it has dropped the idea, saying that Israeli officials wanted too much control over the campus¡¯s curricula.

John Sharp, Texas A&M¡¯s chancellor, said it was ¡°too dangerous¡± to surrender control of academic programmes.

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¡°We can¡¯t put Texas A&M out there and not call all of the academic shots,¡± he told a news conference, .

The peace university had been envisaged as a full campus offering bachelor¡¯s, master¡¯s and doctoral programmes, uniting people from different backgrounds in the pursuit of knowledge.

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Texas A&M has instead agreed to build a marine research centre on Israel¡¯s Mediterranean coast in partnership with the University of Haifa.

This will allow for researchers to compare the environments of the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Mexico, .

Texas A&M also has a campus in Qatar, as part of Doha¡¯s ¡°Education City¡±.

chris.havergal@tesglobal.com