In a recent survey conducted by Catholic newspaper The Tablet, a majority of those questioned agreed that they "would disinvest from companies whose products are used by the Israeli government in the occupied territories".

In the poll of more than 2,800 people on the newspaper's website, 68.5 per cent supported disinvestment while 75 per cent called for the "removal of Jewish West Bank settlements".

The widespread anti-Israeli sentiment among the polled Catholics was further revealed by the large number who opposed the security wall. Although the security wall has been attributed with reducing the number of terrorist attacks, 79.4 per cent of those polled disagreed with the statement that "the security wall is needed to protect the population of the Holy Land from suicide bombers".

The poll was conducted prior to the recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land by Church leaders including the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor.

The Church leaders called for more Christians to visit the Holy Land, as they warned that Christians were suffering greatly in the region. The Tablet's survey found that while 93.5 per cent of the polled Catholics believed that Church leaders should visit the Holy Land, a smaller number, 66.2 per cent, said they would actually go on a pilgrimage to the region. 90.1 per cent said they supported the Open Bethlehem project.

Meanwhile, 80.4 per cent said they "support international efforts to arrive at a two-state solution between the Israelis and the Palestinians" while 75.2 per cent said they supported Palestinian calls for an independent homeland within the borders that existed before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.