VANCOUVER, British Columbia--More than 60 bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America have issued a statement vigorously protesting the Israeli military's occupation of a U.S.-supported Lutheran school in Bethlehem.

"We cannot remain silent while our brothers and sisters of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and Palestine continue to suffer as innocent victims of the violence in the Middle East," said Mark Hanson, the presiding bishop of the 5.2-million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Israeli military forces have been occupying Dar al-Kalima Model School, on a Bethlehem hilltop. The forces have destroyed some of the school's windows, as well as a ceramic cross. Since it opened in 1998, American Lutherans have donated more than $150,000 to the creation of the 240-student school.