Sabeel Wave of Prayer: Week of Aug. 22, 2022

Next week Kumi Now will consider the topic of Art as Resistance. The Kairos Palestine Document,(4.2.3) states: ‘We say that our option as Christians in the face of the Israeli occupation is to resist. Resistance is a right and a duty for the Christian. But it is resistance with love as its logic. It is thus a creative resistance for it must find human ways that engage the humanity of the enemy.’

•    Lord, we give thanks for the courage and steadfast determination of Palestinian artists as they use their gifts to portray their struggle to survive under Israeli occupation, even at great personal risk. Lord, in your mercy…

Israeli forces shot and killed Waseem Khalifa, an 18-year-old from Balata, the refugee camp on the outskirts of Nablus on Thursday, the 18th of August. The forces raided the camp just after midnight to secure the entry of settlers to the site of Joseph’s Tomb. More than thirty Palestinians were wounded, three of them critically.

•    Lord, we pray for the family of Waseem as they mourn his untimely death and we pray for the other Palestinians who were wounded in the raid. It is deeply shocking to hear of the large numbers of Palestinians being shot, maimed and killed by Israeli soldiers with apparent immunity. Lord, in your mercy…

On the same day as the Nablus raid, Israeli forces raided seven non-governmental organizations in the occupied West Bank. The forces ransacked the offices, confiscated the computers and equipment before sealing them off with metal plates. The Israeli authorities have designated them as militant organizations, without producing evidence for such claims.

•    Lord, we look to you as we see yet more attempts from the Israeli authorities to stifle the voice of justice and truth in the Holy Land.  We pray that the UN and other international organizations will continue to challenge the Israeli government over their unfounded banning of these Palestinian human rights’ organizations. Lord, in your mercy..

The first Palestinian Feminist Theatre Festival was held in Jenin Refugee Camp this summer. Jenin Camp is under constant military invasion, with boys and men being regularly killed and imprisoned. Families already suffering poverty due to high levels of unemployment are put under further strain with the burden falling on women to make ends meet. On the opening day of the festival Israeli forces raided the camp and shot and killed 17-year-old Dirar al Kafrayni. The festival was then postponed out of respect for his family’s mourning.

•    Lord, we pray for the family of Dirar as they grieve the loss of his young life. We also pray for the Palestinian women forced to live in refugee camps as they try to support their families in such harrowing conditions. Lord, in your mercy…

Next week schools start again in Palestine. Six privately-run schools in East Jerusalem have been placed under threat of losing their operating licenses by the Israeli Minister of Education. The pretext given by the Minister is that their Palestinian curriculum is critical of the Israeli government. They have been given one year to replace the Palestinian curriculum with the Israeli curriculum, or they will lose their licenses permanently.

•    Lord, we pray that Palestinian students living in East Jerusalem will still be able to study the agreed Palestinian curriculum. We pray for an end to the Israeli government’s policy to force Palestinian schools to abandon their curriculum and only teach the Israeli one. Lord, in your mercy..

Khalil Awawdeh has now been on hunger strike for 165 days in protest against his administrative detention. The Israeli military court rejected a recent appeal for his release on the grounds of his deteriorating health. His lawyer will now take his appeal to the Supreme Court in Jerusalem.

•    Lord, we cry out to you as we hear of the sufferings of Khalil starving himself to the point of death to be released. We pray for an end to the policy of administrative detention which denies hundreds of Palestinian prisoners due process. Lord, in your mercy… •    We join with the World Council of Churches in their prayers for the countries of Liberia and Sierra Leone. Lord, in your mercy..