Sabeel Wave of Prayer: Week of July 12, 2021

This week’s Kumi Now online gathering looked at morally responsible investment. Charlotte Marshall of Sabeel-Kairos U.K. spoke about the organization’s campaign called ‘Investing in Peace’ in U.K. churches, as well as the wider BDS movement which started on the 9th of July, 2005. Next week’s Kumi Now session will consider the Israeli Apartheid Wall.

• Lord, ‘you are a refuge for the oppressed and a stronghold in times of trouble’,(Psalm 9:9). We pray for an end to the occupation and for increasing levels of international pressure to be brought to bear on the discriminatory policies of the Israeli government. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.

On Thursday, the 1st of July, Governor Whitmer announced the appointment of Yvonna Abraham to the Wayne County Third Circuit Court. Yvonna Abraham is the first Palestinian American judge to be appointed in the State of Michigan.

• Lord, we give thanks for the appointment of this young Palestinian American woman to this prestigious post. We pray that she will serve her community with integrity and wisdom. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.

The latest report from Euro-Med Monitor on Gaza, entitled ‘One War Older’, was released on Friday, the 2nd of July. The report documents the sufferings of women and children caused by  the Israeli bombings. Israeli attacks were targeted in residential neighborhoods and there were 254 deaths, including 66 children and 39 women. 241 children lost one, or both parents and 5,400 children lost their homes. Nine out of ten children in Gaza continue to feel traumatized a month after the bombing ceased.

• Lord, the sufferings of the people living in the besieged enclave of Gaza are harrowing. We continue to pray for an end to the blockade and a release from the grinding poverty and distress experienced by all those living there and especially by the vulnerable children. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.

The Institute for Palestinian Studies launched a new online database on Tuesday, the 29th of June. It documents political events which have marked the occupation of Palestine since the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in June 1982. The ‘Palestine Chronology’ will give  future researchers access to historical material using Palestinian, Arab, Israeli and international sources.

• Lord, we give thanks for the launch of this new database which will be an invaluable tool for those seeking to establish the truth about the Israeli occupation of Palestine over the past forty years. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.

Norway’s largest pension fund, the KLP company, announced on Monday, the 5th of July, that it was divesting from 16 companies. They explained their decision was influenced by the risk that they were contributing to ‘the abuse of human rights in situations of war and conflict through their links with the Israeli settlements’. The company stated, ‘ Motorola and other companies risk complicity in international law violations in occupied Palestine as the company provides software used in border-surveillance.’

• Lord, we pray that many corporations around the world will look carefully at the probity of their investments and consider whether they have been contributing financially to human rights abuses in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.

514 American journalists published an open letter on Tuesday, the 13th of July, challenging the American media coverage of Palestine. They stated that the US media narrative ‘obscures the most fundamental aspects of the story: Israel’s military occupation and its system of apartheid’.

• Lord, we give thanks for the courage of these American journalists and for their commitment to seek out the truth and to hold those in power to account. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.

On Monday, the 5th of July, the Knesset fortunately failed to extend the Family Reunification measure of the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law. This law was first enacted in 2003 and has been renewed each year since then. It prevents Palestinian citizens of Israel from extending their citizenship and residency rights to their spouses from the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem or Gaza. This law was cited by the recent Human Rights Watch report as an example of the discriminatory laws faced by Palestinians living under occupation.

• Lord, we pray for a repeal of all discriminatory Israeli laws used to undermine the human rights of Palestinians. We pray that the Israeli lawmakers would extend grace to all their citizens without prejudice or racist intent.  Lord, in your mercy …hear our prayers.

The World Council of Churches has recently launched the East Jerusalem Initiative. WCC-EAPPI has been accompanying communities in East Jerusalem for over a decade. They are unable to be physically present with communities threatened with forced evictions at the moment, but they aim to continue supporting them through advocacy. They are using this initiative to raise awareness about the discriminatory laws faced by families in Sheikh Jarrah and other similarly affected neighborhoods in East Jerusalem.

• Lord Jesus, we draw near in faith to you. We bring the WCC initiative to you as they advocate for Palestinian families facing evictions from their homes in East Jerusalem. We pray that the prayers and interventions of all people of goodwill around the world will stop the displacement of these communities. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.
• We join with the World Council of Churches in their prayers for the countries of Eritrea and Ethiopia. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.