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NEW YORK, Aug. 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ("ELCA") approved a resolution on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict on Saturday, August 22 at its Churchwide Assembly ("CWA"). The resolution included an amendment at Paragraph 2 which specifically stated that the church would:

Evaluate and refine its peace-making efforts to demonstrate as fully as possible the "balanced. . .care for all parties" expressed in the Churchwide Strategy for Engagement in Israel and Palestine (2005, SSII.A), while continuing our unique relationship with and accompaniment of Palestinian Christians and the ELCJHL.

"The ELCA's 'Peace Not Walls' campaign must be more fully aligned with this 'balanced care for all parties' in the conflict in order for the church to act as a peacemaker," said Pastor Thomas A. Prinz of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Leesburg, Va.

According to Rev. Dr. Peter A. Pettit of Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa., which hosted a luncheon symposium on Israel/Palestine at the CWA, "the 'Peace Not Walls' campaign can now address more adequately criticism that has been leveled against it. Fear drives the conflict, and the campaign has in some cases heightened fears that the Lutheran church has taken sides against Israel."

Pettit pointed to an educational video, a "map of shrinking Palestine," and continuing focus on the separation barrier as problematic examples. "We need to hear mainstream Israeli views. We need to take the barrier seriously as a response to violence. We ought not endorse a disingenuous portrayal of a pre-1948 Palestine that never existed and a post-2000 Palestine that pre-judges final status negotiations. Otherwise, we serve our church poorly and heighten fear," he said.

"'Peace Not Walls' has unfortunately focused advocacy efforts disproportionately on the faults and accountability of Israel while minimizing those of the Palestinian Authority, Hamas and the Arab states," says Pastor Bruce McLaughlin of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod who voted for the amendment at the assembly. "We are now hopeful that this will be rectified as a result of this resolution."