Sabeel Wave of Prayer: Week of June 5, 2023
Next week Kumi Now will focus on the issue of how tourists coming to Palestine/Israel can make ethical choices in the way they travel. Some tourists remain unaware of how Israel has annexed the tourist industry. It restricts tourist access to Palestinian sites, favors Israeli tour companies and disseminates propaganda to justify its position as an occupying power. In 2019 Amnesty International published its report ‘Destination Occupation’ which exposed how illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory were being promoted as tourist venues by Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia and Trip Advisor.
- Lord, we pray that tourists will make careful choices when undertaking visits to the Holy Land and especially that they will select tourist companies that refuse to profit from illegal Israeli settlements. Lord, in your mercy…
On Thursday, the 1st of June, an Israeli soldier shot a two-year-old Palestinian boy in the head and injured his father while they were sitting in their car parked in the village of Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah. The Israeli army claim they opened fire in response to gunfire towards the nearby Neve Tzuff settlement. The boy is now in a critical condition in Sheba Hospital, while his father was taken to a hospital in Ramallah.
- Lord, we pray that doctors will be able to save the life of this Palestinian toddler and help his injured father. We pray that the Israeli army, who is in the West Bank as an occupying army, will show restraint. Lord, in your mercy…
This week the Israeli Parliament has advanced two bills that would bring Palestinian schools and their staff in Israel under increased scrutiny from the Israeli security services. One bill will require the Education Ministry to carry out more stringent security checks on Palestinians training to be teachers, while the other bill will make it much harder for candidates to obtain a teaching licence.
- Compassionate Lord, we bring before you all Palestinians with a vocation to teach. We pray that they may continue to work with passion and dedication, whatever repressive measures are passed by the Israeli government. Lord, in your mercy…
There has been a recent outbreak of unbridled violence in the Nablus area by Israeli settlers against Palestinian communities. Settlers in Qusra, south of Nablus, set fire to Palestinian farming land and the fires spread over a wide area; while north-west of Nablus, in the village of Burqa, near the Homesh settlement, Israelis smashed gravestones in one of the village cemeteries.
- Lord, we are deeply grieved as we witness the suffering caused to Palestinians by Israelis living in illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory. We pray for an end to this cycle of violence and an end to the Israeli occupation. Lord, in your mercy..
A number of Palestinian activists have recently been arrested by the Palestinian Authority. Human rights organizations and local communities have condemned these arrests as an assault on freedom of speech in Palestinian civil society.
- Lord, we pray for Palestinian activists who have the courage to point out iniquities, may their right to freedom of expression be fully respected by those placed in authority over them. Lord, in your mercy…
Asif Al Rifai is a twenty-year-old Palestinian prisoner from Kafr’ Ein, near Ramallah. He has been suffering from cancer since the age of sixteen. Despite his serious state of health he was arrested in September 2022. Since then his condition has deteriorated, but he was denied chemotherapy treatment by the Israeli prison authorities until just recently when they relented.
- Lord, we pray for Asif as he undergoes treatment for his extensive cancer. There are twenty three other Palestinian prisoners suffering with cancer in the Israeli military prison system. We pray that they may all have access to the medical treatment they need so urgently. Lord, in your mercy..
Canadian Friends of Sabeel are organizing an online Remembrance Service for Fr. Robert Assaly, co-founder and long time chair of Canadian Friends of Sabeel. Fr. Robert passed away on March 26 2023 after a short battle with cancer. The event is scheduled on Saturday, June 10 from 11:00 am – 12:15 pm eastern Canadian/US time (6:00 PM, Jerusalem time). Please register at this link.
· Gracious Lord, we come before you with hearts filled with gratitude for the remarkable life and inspiring example of Fr. Robert Assaly. We humbly ask that your comforting Spirit remains with his family, friends, and loved ones, who still bear the deep ache of his absence. Lord, in your infinite mercy, grant them solace, strength, and peace in the midst of their grief. Lord, in your mercy..
- We join with the World Council of Churches in their prayers for the countries of Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Eswatini. Lord, in your mercy…