The statement asserted that the current situation for Palestinians was "inhuman" and said that settlements, the 'siege of Gaza,' the 'siege of the rest of Palestine,' military checkpoints, house demolitions 'and the arbitrary behaviour of Israeli soldiers humiliating the Palestinians' have led to the last five months of Palestinian terror attacks against Israeli civilians and security personnel.

That Catholic statement is as prejudiced and as perverted as it is possible to get. It reflects the hatred in the policy of the Vatican towards Israel and particularly towards the Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria (the so-called West Bank). I have spent the last few days visiting the area and talking with several of the settlers themselves - settlers who recognise that their presence upon the mountains of Israel is a fulfilment of what is written in the prophets. As I visited several of these settlements and outposts on Thursday of this week a terror attack was carried out in one of the supermarkets - an unprovoked act of violence against the Jewish settlers by young Palestinians. The headline in the Jerusalem Post today (Friday) read: "Teenage terrorists murder young father in Binyamin supermarket."

It is this sort of terrorism that is now being encouraged by the Catholic leaders and one cannot help referencing the "perpetual hatred" spoken of in Ezekiel 35:5.

It does not seem to occur to the Palestinian Arabs, or to the Catholic clergy, that there would be no need for security checkpoint-points or other measures if there were no violence, killings or terror attacks. The fact is that the Vatican, the Palestinians, and the world just do not want an Israeli state to exist because it demonstrates clearly that the Bible is true. Who can ignore the teaching of the Scriptures? Who can resist the power of prophecy fulfilling - for example:

"I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel" (Ezekiel 34:13-14).

The world tries to tell us that the Bible is a myth, that it is untrue - a fable - and yet its words are coming true day by day. What though all the world resist Him, God will realise His plan, and those that hate the Bible and hate the things of Zion will not be able to divert God from His purpose. The Jewish people will continue to survive, as they have always survived despite the Romans, despite the Catholic Crusades, despite the Inquisition, despite the Nazi Holocaust and despite the Vatican inspired Palestinian terror campaign. 'Am Yisrael chai' (the people of Israel live).

This has been Paul Billington in Jerusalem, Israel. We plan to give you more on Israel in our next Bible Magazine April 2016. All plans subject to God's will.