Sabeel Wave of Prayer: Week of Feb. 21, 2022

On Friday, the 18th of February, representatives from the Humanitarian Country Team in Palestine met with the Salem family in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in occupied East Jerusalem. The family of twelve, including six children, face forcible eviction from their home in March. The team, comprised of members of UN agencies and international and Palestinian NGOs has called on the Israeli authorities to halt all further evictions from the Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. 218 Palestinian families are living with this imminent threat.

• Lord, we pray for the Salem family, who have lived in their home in Sheikh Jarrah for more than seventy years, that they may not be forcibly evicted. We pray that the Israeli authorities will abide by international law and will put an end to their policies of forcible evictions and house demolitions. Lord, in your mercy…

Footage of Israeli soldiers arresting a 19-year-old Palestinian at his workplace at night in al-Bireh, near Ramallah was released on Wednesday, the 16th of February. Malik Maala was working as a guard at an industrial facility to raise money for his university tuition fees when soldiers arrived to arrest him. The film shows that when the soldiers came to detain him, he raised his hands behind his head, expecting to be handcuffed. At this point an Israeli soldier released a military dog which pounced on him and attacked him. Some moments later the dog was recovered by a soldier and Malik was detained and taken to an undisclosed location.

• Lord, we pray for Malik that he may be treated for any injuries he received during his brutal arrest. We pray that the Israeli military authorities will stop treating Palestinians with such cruelty and inhumanity. Lord, in your mercy..

Acute water scarcity has forced the villagers of Furush Beit Dajan, near Nablus, to abandon their once famous lemon trees and to grow tomatoes in greenhouses instead. There are plenty of wells under their land for crops but their water has been diverted. The Israeli army  has  constructed artesian aquifers and supplies unlimited quantities of water to the nearby Israeli settlements of Hamra and Mekhora.

• Lord, can it be just and fair that Palestinian farmers hardly have enough water to raise their crops and livestock, while Israeli settlers fill their swimming pools less than half a mile away? Lord, the settlements are built on occupied land and the settlers have no right to the land or the underground water. We pray that the occupation will end and the farmers will regain their rights. Lord, in your mercy..

On Friday, the 25th of February Sabeel Jerusalem will host an event with Rev. Mitri Raheb. He will be discussing a document he helped to write which is entitled, ‘We choose abundant life’. It is the work of a group of theologians and specialists in human and geopolitical sciences, both women and men, from different church traditions, who have come together to lay out a new vision for the people of the Middle East.

• Lord Jesus, our Good Shepherd, You laid down Your life so that we may have life and have it abundantly, (John10:10). In the face of dark times we place our trust and hope in You. We are thankful for the renewed vision for Christians in the Middle East as described in the ‘We choose abundant life’ document. We pray that it inspires others to trust in the power of life over the the culture of death. Lord, in your mercy…

Last week Palestinian Christians gathered in Beit Sahour to pay tribute to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who died in December 2021. The prayer service was held at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church, where Tutu prayed when he visited in 1989. Tutu came to Beit Sahour during the first Palestinian Intifada. He spoke at Shepherd’s Field, where he was welcomed by thousands of Palestinians, both Christian and Muslim. Tutu identified the situation in Palestine/Israel as apartheid three decades before the recent reports of B’Tselem, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

• Lord, we join with Kairos Palestine in their tribute to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, (Dec.2021) ‘We will continue to turn our eye to Tutu’s lifelong aspiration for a better world where everyone enjoys liberty, equality and equity and we will remember him as we march on in our path for self-determination and independence.’ Lord, in your mercy…

Samir Mansour once again opened his bookstore/library  in Gaza to customers on Thursday, the 17th of February. His shop had been completely destroyed by Israeli bombing in May 2021. Last year Human Rights lawyers Mahvish Rukhsana and Clive Stafford Smith led a fundraising operation called 3DC to help raise donations from all around the world to help him rebuild and restock his shop.

• Lord, we are thankful that Samir Mansour”s bookshop has risen from the ashes. We pray that the store will be a beacon of hope to a people who have been confined and oppressed by the Israeli blockade for the past fourteen years. Lord, in your mercy..

• We join with the World Council of Churches in their prayers for the countries of France, Germany and Monaco. Lord in your mercy…