US lawmakers: Condemn EU's product labeling plan
Members of Congress issue resolution slamming European decision to mark imports made in the West Bank, saying it undermines peace process.
WASHINGTON - US lawmakers issued a resolution on Thursday to condemn the European Union's decision to label products made in the West Bank. The resolution by a bipartisan group of four Congress members said "such actions undermine efforts to achieve a negotiated Israeli-Palestinian peace process."
The group that submitted the resolution consisted of House Committee of Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce (Republican), Eliot Engel (Democrat), Nita Lowey (Democrat), and Peter Roskam (Republican), all members of the House of Representatives.
The resolution notes that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has called on Europe to go beyond product labeling products and completely ban products made by companies that operate in the West Bank. It describes the BDS movement's actions as "politically motivated" that single out Israel.
The lawmakers emphasized that the EU, which is Israel's main source of trade, must play a helpful role in returning Israelis and Palestinians to the negotiating table. But the BDS movement's actions, says the resolution, "represent a concerted effort to extract concessions from Israel outside of direct negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians, and undermines efforts to achieve a negotiated two-state solution."
The resolution pointed out that the US has traditionally opposed efforts to exert economic pressure on Israel and has in the past enacted legislation opposing boycotts by the Arab League and by BDS. It also noted that several US states have already taken steps against BDS, including Tennessee, New York, California, Illinois, Indiana and North Carolina.
Also on Thursday, the Czech parliament's lower house called on the government to ignore EU rules on labeling goods from the West Bank, joining Hungary in breaking ranks over the divisive regulations.
The Czech Assembly said new EU guidelines which require the labeling of exports from Israeli settlements in the West Bank were "motivated by a political positioning versus the State of Israel".
