Sabeel Wave of Prayer: Week of Oct. 19, 2020
The Israeli government gave its approval to the building of 2166 new settler homes in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, the 14th of October. This move comes less than a month after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed normalization agreements with Israel. In return, Israel had pledged to hold back on its plans to annex large areas of the West Bank.
Oh Lord, our hearts break as we hear that the Israeli government is annexing more land in the occupied West Bank for settler homes. We pray that governments and lawmakers around the world will speak out against this illegal annexation. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.
The Kumi Now Online gatherings have finished for the time being. The Kumi team is now working on a revision and updating of the Kumi booklet. All the online sessions can still be accessed here.
Lord, we are thankful for all the talks hosted by the Kumi team and pray they may have inspired many to continue working for peace and justice in Israel/Palestine. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.
On Monday, the 12th of October, the Israeli High Court rejected a petition to ban arms sales to Azerbaijan. The background to the Israeli arms sales relates to complex geopolitics involving Iran, which borders Azerbaijan.
Lord, we pray for an end to the hostilities between Azerbaijan and Armenia. We pray too for the curtailment of arms sales by the Israeli government. Lord in your mercy…hear our prayers.
The Norwegian Refugee Council is deeply concerned by the Israeli military’s planned demolition of a European funded Palestinian primary school in Ras At-Tin, a herding community in the central area of the West Bank. If the school is destroyed fifty young pupils will have to walk five kilometers to reach another school in the next village of Al- Mughayyer.
Lord, we pray that the demolition order on the school at Ras At-Tin will not be enforced by the Israeli authorities. We pray that they will fulfill their duty to ensure the children in this occupied area have access to education and other basic services. Lord, in your mercy… hear our prayers.
Maher al-Akhras has now been on hunger strike over his administrative detention for over eighty days. On Wednesday, the 14th of October dozens of Palestinians demonstrated outside Kaplan hospital where he is being treated, demanding his release.
Lord, we pray for the life of Maher and for the hundreds of other Palestinians held indefinitely in administrative detention by the Israeli authorities. We pray that the Israeli government will ‘keep justice and do righteousness’ (Is.56:1) by granting all those living in Israel/ Palestine a fair trial. Lord, in your mercy… hear our prayers.
On Monday, the12th of October, the newly appointed Commissioner General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini spoke out about the despair experienced by Palestinian refugees across Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Gaza. He spoke of how some people living in Gaza are now reduced to sifting through garbage to find food scraps for their families at this time of pandemic.
Lord, we pray that countries across the world will remember the needs of refugees and continue to support the work of UNRWA and other organizations working to alleviate hunger and hopelessness. Lord, in your mercy… hear our prayers.
We join with the World Council of Churches in their prayers for the Caribbean, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, the Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Curaçao, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Saint Maarten, St Kitts-Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.