Sabeel Wave of Prayer: Week of June 1, 2021

The Kumi Now online gathering on Tuesday, the 1st of June, looked at the issue of child fatalities in Palestine. The UN marks this day as the Global Day of Parents, but for many Palestinian parents they have to acknowledge that the Israeli Occupation can have more influence over the lives of their children than they have. Many see their children arrested, tried in military courts and sent to prisons in Israel, while others witness their killings by Israeli forces.

On Tuesday, the 8th of June, Kumi Now will be counting the cost of the environmental damage caused by the Israeli Occupation.

• Lord God, our everlasting Father and creator of the ends of the earth, you do not faint or grow weary. Fill us with your strength and renew our hope to see an end to oppression in the Holy Land and for the people there to find ways to live in peace and righteousness.
Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.

Muhammed Kiwan was a promising 17-year-old Palestinian Israeli student from Umm al-Fahm. He was a passenger in a car with friends when he was shot and wounded two weeks ago during the unrest. His death is presently under investigation as he is thought to have been targeted by an undercover police officer. Despite the circumstances of his death, his family decided to go ahead with donating his organs and five Jewish patients and one Arab have become recipients.

• Lord, we pray for Muhammed’s family as they grieve over the violent death of their son. We are thankful for their altruism in the face of their suffering. We pray that the circumstances of their son’s death will be fully investigated. Lord, in your mercy… hear our prayers.

Demonstrations were held outside a district court in Jerusalem on Wednesday, the 26th of May, where an appeal had been lodged by Palestinian families threatened with forced displacement from their homes in Silwan. The appeal decision was postponed. The Jewish settler organization, Ateret Cohanim, continues to pursue claims to Palestinian homes through the Israeli courts.

• Lord, we pray that the international community will challenge the discriminatory laws which lead to settler annexation and the expulsion of Palestinian families in the Occupied Territories.
Lord in your mercy… hear our prayers.

Last week Hani Amer from the village of Mas’ha, west of Salfit, died. For many years Hani refused to leave his home and land despite suffering threats and violence from the Israeli authorities and the Jewish settlers who came to live right next to him. His home is now surrounded on three sides by the separation barrier, in an area of illegally claimed land 5km away from the Green Line.

• Lord, we pray for the Amer family as they grieve for Hani and remember his steadfast determination to remain in his home, despite the intimidation he faced. We pray for all those who have to live with threats of annexation and settler violence.
Lord, in your mercy… hear our prayers.

The Gaza Municipality called for volunteers to come forward to help clear the devastation left by eleven days of bombardment by the Israeli forces. Hundreds of volunteers responded by coming together to clear the Rimal commercial and residential district. The campaign is due to continue all week, beginning each day at a different site of damage.

• Lord, we pray for all those who have been affected by the recent violence in Gaza and Israel. We pray that the ceasefire will hold and that the international community will step forward to help establish a just and lasting peace in Palestine/Israel.
Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.

‘The life and death of one Palestinian child’ is a moving podcast available on the Aljazeera website. Farah Bayadsi, a lawyer from Defence for Children International Palestine, speaks about the life of a child she represented, Obaida Jawabra. Obaida was a 17-year- old Palestinian child from Hebron who was shot and killed by the Israeli military on the 17th of May. He was only one of 66 Palestinian children who were killed by the Israeli forces in the month of May.

• Lord, we pray for an end to the Israeli violations of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. We pray that the rest of the world will hold the Israeli authorities to account for the criminalization, torture and killing of Palestinian children in the Occupied Territories .
Lord, in your mercy… hear our prayers.

Palestinians living in occupied East Jerusalem in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah claim they have been placed under siege by the Israeli authorities. They have to limit their movements and stay close to their homes and are frequently subjected to security checks; while Jewish settlers are given permission to roam freely, often in armed groups of twenty or more.

• Lord, we pray for an end to the hostile incitement of trouble in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. We continue to pray for peace in Jerusalem and an end to forcible dispossessions and house demolitions.
Lord, in your mercy… hear our prayers.

• Lord Jesus, we give thanks for the ecumenical worship held by Sabeel at the Dominican Church Jerusalem on Thursday, the 20th of May. We are thankful that the local community and clergy came together to worship and listen to the sermon from Latin Patriarch Emeritus Michel Sabbah.
Lord, in your mercy… hear our prayers.

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