This time the hard hitting attack on Israel’s security policies didn't come from an Arab Christian bishop, but from the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales.

The Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, has urged William Hague, the UK Foreign Secretary, to address the “tragic situation” facing Palestinians “displaced” by the building of the Israeli security barrier in Beit Jala.

Archbishop Nichols said that the “expropriation” of land by Israel had a “catastrophic impact” on the village and risked furthering the conflict. “I will be raising this matter directly with the Israeli ambassador but I do hope that you might be able to consider using British influence to try and persuade the Israeli authorities to reverse their declared decision in this regard”, explained Nichols.

During his last Christmas Mass sermon at Westminster Cathedral, Nichols had already demonized Israel: “We are to be freshly attentive to the needs of those who, like Jesus himself, are displaced and in discomfort. A shadow falls particularly heavily on the town of Bethlehem tonight … We pray for them tonight”.

Nichols' attack on Israel comes after a recent interview with Die Tagespost by Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad Twal, named by Pope Benedict to represent the Catholics in the Jewish State.

Twal declared that “Israel’s existence as such has nothing to do with the Bible.” He then compared Christians’ condition in today’s Israel with Jesus’ Passion: “We Christians never forget that even our Lord himself suffered and was mocked in Jerusalem.”

Backed by the Catholic clergy, for the first time in history the Palestinians asked the United Nations’ cultural body to register Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity under the name of “Palestine.” According to Omar Awadallah, who heads the UN department in the PA Foreign Ministry, “Jesus is the Palestinian prince of hope and peace and Christians all over the world want that church to be a World Heritage site".

A few days later, Cardinal Jean Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, in a first-ever interview for a cardinal on al-Jazeera, declared that Israel must adopt “an internationally recognized statute for that part of Jerusalem where the Holy Places of the three monotheistic religions are open to believers.”

Nichols is spreading false allegations: in constructing the security barrier, no land has been annexed, no houses have been demolished, no-one has been required to leave their home.

The route of the barrier is determined through consultation with the local population and any Palestinian or Israeli affected has full rights of appeal.

Nichols’ stance against Israel is built on lies and blood libels.

The reason for the construction of the barrier – repeated Palestinian sniper attacks on the civilian population of Gilo which the barrier has been effective in preventing – is also totally absent from the Archbishop’s letter.

For 19 horrible years, Jordanians and Palestinians controlled Gilo, the Israeli community closer to Beit Jala. Property was seized. The historic synagogues of the walled enclave were gutted, trashed, some turned into makeshift barns.

Gilo then became a special symbol of the Israeli resistance during the Second Intifada, when Arab snipers, located in the Arab-populated village of Beit Jala, fired indiscriminately at Jews walking on the street and aimed bullets through the windows of apartment blocks facing the village, which lies on the southeastern fringe of Jerusalem, some two to three kilometers beyond the 1949 Armistice line.

The IDF did not return the fire, for fear of hitting Arab civilians.

Gilo was turned into another Ireland. The Jewish residents began to evacuate. Fear, rage and worry dominated their minds.

Belatedly, the Israeli government under Ariel Sharon, finally provided cement barriers and bullet-proof glass to protect the neighborhood’s residents.

Gilo, which today is a strategic neighborhood for the security of the entire State of Israel, served as the laboratory where Palestinian terrorists sought to discover whether they could force Jews into abandoning their homes.

They failed.

The UK Catholic leader is now reviving the ultimate goal by “peaceful” means: displace the Jews from their land.