Index: src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/eclipse/EclipsePlugin.java
===================================================================
--- src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/eclipse/EclipsePlugin.java	(revision 157)
+++ src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/eclipse/EclipsePlugin.java	(working copy)
@@ -522,6 +522,15 @@
     private List sourceExcludes;
     
     /**
+     * List of exclusions to add to the resource directories on the classpath.
+     * Adds excluding="" to the classpathentry of the eclipse .classpath file.
+     * [MECLIPSE-165]
+     * 
+     * @parameter 
+     */
+    private List resourceExcludes;
+    
+    /**
      * List of inclusions to add to the source directories on the classpath.
      * Adds including="" to the classpathentry of the eclipse .classpath file.
      * <p>
@@ -814,6 +823,10 @@
         if ( sourceExcludes == null ) {
             sourceExcludes = new ArrayList();
         }
+
+        if ( resourceExcludes == null ) {
+            resourceExcludes = new ArrayList();
+        }
         
         setupExtras();
 
@@ -1551,6 +1564,10 @@
             getLog().debug( "Processing resource dir: " + resource.getDirectory() );
 
             List excludes = new ArrayList( resource.getExcludes() );
+            if (resourceExcludes != null) {
+                excludes.addAll(resourceExcludes);
+            }
+            
             // automatically exclude java files: eclipse doesn't have the concept of resource directory so it will
             // try to compile any java file found in maven resource dirs
             excludes.add( JAVA_FILE_PATTERN );