US congress to EU: Add Hizbullah to terrorist list

Letter, signed by 210 members, follows Javier Solana's statement arguing there was insufficient data tying Hizbullah to terrorism.

By NATHAN GUTTMAN
congress 88 (photo credit: )
congress 88
(photo credit: )
The United States Congress sent a letter to the European Union's chief of foreign policy Javier Solana, urging the EU to add Hizbullah to the list of terror organizations. The letter, signed by 210 members of Congress, came following Solana's statement two weeks ago in which he argued that there was no sufficient data tying Hizbullah to terrorist activities. "We were dismayed to hear your July 19 assertion that the EU lacked 'sufficient data' to add Hizbullah to its terrorist list," the members of Congress wrote, urging Solana and the EU to take immediate action to include the Hizbullah on the list. The letter was sponsored by representatives Elton Gallegly (R-CA) and Robert Wexler (D-FL) and signed by both majority and minority leaders of the House. Members of Congress have already called on the EU, in a 2005 resolution, to add Hizbullah to its terror list, but the EU has not taken action on this issue yet. Adding Hizbullah to the terror list would enable the EU to stop the transfer of funds from EU countries to the organization and seize assets Hizbullah has in Europe. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington issued a statement Friday following the signing of the letter in Congress, saying that "If the European Union is serious about its support for international measures calling for Hizbullah's disarmament, designating Hizbullah a terrorist organization is a necessary step in that process."