Sabeel Wave of Prayer: Week of Feb. 16, 2021

The Kumi Now Online gathering at 6pm Jerusalem time/11 am Eastern US time on Tuesday, Feb. 16, will outline the variety of discriminatory policies Palestinians face inside Israel, West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip by the Israeli authorities.

• Lord, we pray for an end to the discriminatory policies imposed by Israel on the Palestinians living under occupation and as citizens living inside Israel. We continue to hope that justice and freedom for all people will be restored to the Holy Land.
  Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.

On Tuesday, Feb. 2, an arson attack on the Romanian Orthodox Church in Jerusalem, was carried out by an Israeli person.

• Lord, we pray that the Israeli authorities will act decisively to curb the rise in extremist attacks on churches and mosques in Israel and the West Bank. We continue to pray for peace and justice in the city of Jerusalem, a city which is sacred to Christians, Muslims and Jews alike.
  Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.

On Monday, Feb. 8, a group of Israeli settlers forced their way into the village of Al- Lubban ash-Sharqiya, south of Nablus, under the protection of Israeli soldiers. The Palestinian villagers tried to fend them off. During the confrontation one villager, Mohammed, was pushed off a four-meter-high wall. He was rushed to hospital for urgent treatment.

• Lord, we pray for Mohammed’s recovery from the settler assault. We pray for an end to the rise in settler violence against Palestinians and their property.
  Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.

On Monday, Feb. 8, the Bedouin families of Khirbet Humsa, east of Tubas, had to watch as their tents and structures were demolished for the third time this year by Israeli troops. The families have been told to leave the area as it has been declared ‘a closed military zone’. Two days later an international delegation visited the demolished site. The delegation expressed its concern over Israel’s contravention of international law, which forbids the demolition of residential structures in occupied territories.

• Lord, we pray for the families of Khirbet Humsa, among them nearly fifty children, now facing homelessness during the winter and at a time of pandemic.
  Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.

On Wednesday, Feb. 10, Azzam Amer, a Palestinian laborer, was killed by an Israeli settler who rammed his car into him at a roundabout near the village of Kefl-Hares, north of Salfit,. The West Bank village lies adjacent to the illegal Israeli settlement of Ariel, which is home to more than 20,000 settlers.

• Lord, we pray for the family of Azzam, as they grieve their loss. We pray that the Israeli authorities will investigate this incident and hold to account the person who carried out the assault.
  Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.

The British Foreign Secretary has received a letter from over 80 MPs from all political parties requesting that the U.K. government will act to prevent the Israeli government from the forced evictions of Palestinian families living in occupied East Jerusalem. About 200 families in the Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan areas of Jerusalem are in danger of being dispossessed, following a legal battle waged against them by Israeli settler associations.

• Lord, we pray that pressure from the U.K. government, as well as other governments around the world, would force the Israeli authorities to stop the forcible transfer of Palestinian families from their homes in occupied East Jerusalem.
  Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.

The International Criminal Court, the ICC, in The Hague has ruled that it does have jurisdiction over the occupied Palestinian Territories. The judgement was given on the 9th of February and is a significant move towards ending impunity in the 53-year-old occupation of the West Bank, as well as East Jerusalem and Gaza. It now remains for the current ICC prosecutor or her successor to begin the investigation.

• Lord, ‘send out your light and your truth, let them lead us’, (Ps43:3). We pray that the international community will support the ICC process in pursuing justice and ending Israel’s impunity in the occupied territories of Palestine.
  Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.

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