We are writing to express our view that Ariel University in the occupied West Bank is the wrong venue for a conference on cosmology and particle physics starting on Monday3 September and running until 6 September. The settlements are illegal under international law and have been denounced by the international court of justice and numerous UN resolutions. Human Rights Watch has noted that Ariel’s “development is inseparable from a history of continuous dispossession of Palestinians from their land and restrictions on their freedom of movement”.

There is strong opposition to Ariel University. Due to its location in a settlement, it is excluded from receiving funds from the EU, US-Israel Binational Science Foundation, and the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development. In 2012, more than 1,200 Israeli faculty members signed a petition opposing the establishment of Ariel, describing it as an attempt to recruit the Israeli academia into the service of the occupation and settlement efforts. Palestinian civil society and academia are comprehensively against the occupation and the settlements.

We, the undersigned, believe that participating in any activities held in a settlement amounts to accepting the Israeli government’s policy of gradually annexing the occupied territories to Israel. We call upon our colleagues and the wider scientific community to consider these facts before engaging in any activities related to Ariel, and not to take part in any attempts to use science to normalise the occupation of the Palestinian territories. The views expressed in this correspondence are those of the authors, and may not reflect those of their employers.

Prof Ofer Aharony Weizmann Institute

Prof Imad Barghouthi, Al Quds University

Prof Suleiman Baraka, Al Aqsa University-Gaza and Virginia Tech

Prof Robert Brandenberger, McGill University

Prof Anne-Christine Davis, University of Cambridge

Prof John Ellis, King’s College London

Prof David Gross Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, Santa Barbara

Prof Thomas Hertog KU Leuven

Dr David Marsh University of Cambridge

Prof Ann E Nelson University of Washington

Dr Syksy Räsänen University of Helsinki

Prof Martin Rees University of Cambridge

Prof Nathan Seiberg Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

Prof Neil Turok Perimeter Institute

Prof Edward Witten Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com

• Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters

• Do you have a photo you’d like to share with Guardian readers? Click here to upload it and we’ll publish the best submissions in the letters spread of our print edition