Sabeel Wave of Prayer: Week of May 8, 2023
This week’s Kumi Now online gathering looked at the US support for Israel. The US is providing vast amounts of military and economic aid to Israel. Israel is using that aid to oppress Palestinians with impunity. Next week’s Kumi Now will look at the ‘ongoing Nakba’. For Palestinians Saturday, the 15th of May will be the day they commemorate the catastrophe of the Nakba when thousands of Palestinians were forced to flee their homes. Present-day Israeli policies sustain a coercive environment which gives many Palestinians no option but to leave their homes and communities.
· Lord, we pray for an end to the oppression and discriminatory policies forced on Palestinians by the Israeli authorities. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.
On May 7th, Israeli authorities demolished Jibb Al-Deeb School, in the Palestinian village of Bayt Ta’mar, east of Bethlehem. The same school was demolished by the occupation authorities in 2017 but rebuilt shortly after by activists. Hours after Israeli forces demolished the school last week, Palestinian residents and activists rebuilt the school again which houses about 60 students from the first to the fourth grade.
· Lord, we continue to pray for all the people who organize and engage nonviolence to bring justice to the people on the margins. May the witness of the different activists continue to inspire our people and especially the young people to commit to nonviolence. Lord in your mercy…hear our prayers.
For the 16th day in a row, the tourist city of Jericho in the occupied West Bank remains under a suffocating Israeli military siege, with checkpoints stifling Palestinian traffic on all the entrances to the city.
- Lord, in our prayers we remember all Palestinian families who are forced to wait for hours at the checkpoints leading to and out of Jericho. We also remember all the business owners in Jericho who continue to incur financial losses as a result of these unjustifiable military closures. We continue to pray for an end of occupation and a stronger position from the international community to holding Israel accountable for its actions. Lord, in your mercy… hear our prayers.
A Palestinian child was injured by an Israeli rubber-coated round this afternoon in the town of Kafr Qaddum, in the occupied West Bank province of Qalqilia. The 12-year-old child was injured by Israeli occupation soldiers during an Israeli military operation in the town.
- Lord, it is deeply shocking to witness the level of violence inflicted on children by the Israeli occupation army. We pray for the healing of victims, that they may recover physically and mentally from the abuse. We pray too for the perpetrators of the violence that they may have a change of heart and be held accountable for their crimes. Lord, in your mercy… hear our prayers
Israeli settlers destroyed about 258 olive saplings for Taysir Ali Ahmad, a Palestinian landlord in the town of Kafr al-Dik, in the occupied West Bank province of Salfit.
- Lord, we pray for the Palestinians living near the settlements who suffer harassment and destructive raids. We pray for an end to this violence and intimidation. We pray for an end to the occupation and a way forward which would bring peace, justice and stability to Israel/ Palestine. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.
Visually impaired Palestinian political detainee Izz al-Din Amarneh suspended his hunger strike after 12 days in protest of his detention without charge or trial by the Israeli occupation authorities. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) said Amarneh’s decision to suspend his hunger strike came as a result of an agreement with the Israeli occupation authorities to release him in upcoming October.
- Lord, give us the power to stand in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners as they demand their basic rights. Give us the needed strength and courage not to abandon or shy away from their rightful demands. Remind us Lord, that you were once a prisoner when the powerful unjustly imprisoned you, and when your disciples abandoned you although they loved you. Lord in your mercy…Hear our prayers
- We join the World Council of Churches in praying for the countries of India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Lord in your mercy… Hear our prayers