As Patriarch Michel Sabbah approaches his retirement age, don’t prepare to give a sigh of relief when the day comes. His successor, Archbishop Fouad Twal, promises to be more of the same.

The headline of the online version is fairly mild, but in the print edition of The Universe, it shouts: Holy Land bishop urges US to rein in ‘spoilt child’ Israel.

A leading bishop in the Holy Land has accused America of treating the State of Israel “like a spoilt child” and has urged Israel to use its strength and power “to take courageous steps” for peace and justice.

Archbishop Fouad Twal, the coadjutor to Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Michel Sabbah, was reacting to news that B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group reported that 660 Palestinians were killed in 2006. This compares with 23 Israelis killed during the same period.

He thinks it is the action of a ‘spoilt child’ for Israel to defend itself. Does that mean he believes it is much more mature for them to destroy the defence barrier and invite the Palestinians in to kill them - at least until the number of dead Israelis equals that of dead Palestinians? Never mind that most of the latter are terrorists engaged in violence, while most Israeli victims are men, women and children travelling on buses, eating at pizza restaurants, etc. It’s the numbers that count, thinks Twal.

If he wants an equal number of dead Jews and Arabs, why isn’t he more even-handed? While he’s accusing Israel of being a ‘spoilt child’, why doesn’t he have a word with the Palestinians? They behave like an enraged toddler in a permanent state of temper tantrum, constantly throwing their toys out of the pram which is Gaza. You know - those ’home made’ missiles.