Sabeel Wave of Prayer: Week of April 26, 2021

This week’s Kumi Now online gathering focused on the Nation-State Law which was passed in the Knesset on the 1st of May, 2018. Next week’s Kumi Now looks at the threats of censorship and violence suffered by Palestinian journalists, as World Press Freedom Day is remembered on Monday, the 3rd of May.    

• Lord, we pray for the Palestinian-Arab and other non-Jewish citizens of Israel, who make up a fifth of the population and yet who do not enjoy the same rights as Jewish citizens.  Lord, in your mercy… hear our prayers.

On Thursday, the 15th of April Israelis from the illegal Ahla settlement vandalized the land owned by a Palestinian from Jaloud village, near Nablus. The settlers broke in at night, cut down trees he had planted, stole building equipment and damaged construction material. On Saturday, the 17th of April, Israeli settlers set fire to a mature olive grove belonging to a Palestinian farmer north of the town of Beit Fajjar, near Bethlehem, damaging fifty olive trees.

• Lord, we pray for an end to the cycle of violence being unleashed against Palestinians by Israeli settlers. We pray that the Israeli authorities would seek to curb these increasingly more frequent settler attacks. Lord, in your mercy… hear our prayers.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, (UNRWA), has launched a new centralised digital education platform designed to improve educational access for more than 540,000 refugee students in 711 schools across the Middle East.

• Lord, we thank you that this new educational tool will enable many Palestinian refugee children to continue their schooling when faced with emergencies such as the pandemic or periods of armed conflict. Lord, in your mercy… hear our prayers.

Kairos has launched an online campaign to stop the illegal expulsion of Palestinians from the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. They are asking you to sign the campaign to #StopJerusalemExpulsion and #SaveSheikhJarrah on the same link. [In the US, you can take action here to send a message to your elected officials.]

• Lord, we pray that many people around the world will support the campaign to challenge the Israeli authorities’ push to expel Palestinians from their homes in Jerusalem. Lord, in your mercy… hear our prayers.

For the past twenty-two years the publication ‘This Week in Palestine’ has featured well recognized articles. It is seeking to extend its readership worldwide and hopes to add a further five thousand subscribers. The link to subscribe is here.

• Lord, we pray that the oppression suffered by the Palestinians living in Israel and the occupied  Palestinian Territories will become a matter of international reproach to the Israeli government and will challenge them to seek justice and peace with all citizens. Lord, in your mercy… hear our prayers.

Worshipers in the Eastern Orthodox tradition celebrate Sunday, the 2nd of May, as Easter Day, following the older Julian Calendar rather than the Gregorian Calendar.

• Lord Jesus, our precious cornerstone, we ask you to build up the worshiping community in the Eastern Orthodox Church as they celebrate Easter and remember your sacrifice on the cross and your wondrous resurrection. Lord, in your mercy… hear our prayers.

The 24th of April marks the day of commemoration of the Armenian genocide.

• ‘Lord,  you created us to be stewards of life and community. Help the Armenian community to continue building their country in peace and contribute to the respect and confidence between peoples and nations’ (WCC). Lord, in your mercy… hear our prayers.

• We join with the World Council of Churches in their prayers for the countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. Lord, in your mercy… hear our prayers.