Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister, Danny Ayalon, has claimed that the Vatican synod on the Middle East, which was convened this week, was "hijacked" by critics of Israel.

Bishops ended the two-week conference of Middle East bishops, organised by the Pope to discuss challenges facing Catholics in their region, with a call for Israel to accept UN resolutions demanding a stop to the "occupation."

The synod also expressed dismay at the Israeli right's invocation of biblical authority to oppose any pullout from the West Bank.

The conference released a statement saying that it opposes "recourse to theological and biblical positions which use the word of God to wrongly justify injustices".