ORLANDO, Fla., Aug. 13 (Reuters) - The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on Saturday agreed to launch a campaign for peace between Israel and the Palestinians that Jewish advocates said could be seen in the Arab world as evidence of a growing condemnation of Israel by U.S. Protestants.

The resolution, titled "Peace Not Walls" was approved 668 to 269 at the biennial assembly in Orlando, Florida, of the sixth largest U.S. Christian denomination, and church leaders said a campaign for peace had become urgent in light of the Israeli security barrier under construction on Palestinian land.

Before the vote, Bishop Munib Younan, representing the denomination's sister Lutheran church in Palestine, told the 1,108 assembly members that his congregation had been split by the wall and church attendance was dropping.

"The future of the Palestinian (Lutheran) church is at stake because the current conditions are causing our children to leave in increasing numbers," Younan said via telephone.

Some critics of the resolution warned that the world might hear only the catchy title, which spotlights what Israel considers an essential defensive barrier against terrorism, without understanding the nuances of the church campaign.

"They're creating a religious document, but when it gets to the Mideast, people are reading a political document," said Dexter Van Zile of the Boston-based David Project, an Israeli advocacy group. "The Arab public is going to see 'another church is against Israel.'"...

...the press missed the fact that there were a whole lot of folks in that assembly today "swinging from the trees defending Israel," and putting the church council leaders on notice.

That didn't happen with the Presbyterians last year, and the UCC or the Disciples of Christ last month...

..."Still, the resolution gave the leaders of the ELCA an opportunity to broadcast a dishonest narrative about the Arab/Israeli conflict to their members and to the general public. If you look at the map of the separation barrier on display at the back of the hall housing Augsburg Fortress Press, you won't see any accompanying images from the terror attacks the barrier was designed to prevent. The leaders of ELCA tried to portray the separation barrier as if it were built in a vacuum, not in response to the violence of the Second Intifada which killed more than 1,000 Israelis."

Van Zile also criticized ELCA's leadership for not soliciting input from Israelis in crafting the document.

"During debate, ELCA leaders announced that the document was created with input from representatives of the Middle East Council of Churches. To suggest that the MECC can act as a neutral arbiter between the Israelis and Palestinians is a case of intellectual malpractice. Member churches of the MECC are all located in Muslim majority countries and as such are made up of beleaguered populations beholden to governments that do not embrace notions of religious freedom and tolerance. They are not free to speak the truth about the religious nature of the war against Israel."