US lawmakers condemned the European Union's decision to label products made in the West Bank and the Golan Heights.

A bipartisan resolution initiated by 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.

"Not only does it harm the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and damage U.S. national security interests, it also contributes to the anti-Israel BDS movement," the resolution said. "The EU was established on the basic assumption the peace and security are best achieved via commerce, economical alliance and increased employment -- not by boycott and isolation. The same assumption applies to Israelis and Palestinians."

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.

Several US states have already taken steps against BDS, including Tennessee, New York, California, Illinois, Indiana and North Carolina.