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

Next week the Kumi Now community will focus on spreading the message of the 2009 Kairos Document written by Palestinian theologians and inspired by the original document written in apartheid South Africa in 1985. We will also remember the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people on Tuesday, the 29th of November.

•      ‘Lord, in the absence of all hope, we cry out our cry of hope. We believe in God, good and just. We believe that God’s goodness will finally triumph over the evil of hate and of death that still persist in our land. We will see here ‘a new land’ and ‘a new human being’ capable of rising up in the spirit to love each one of his brothers and sisters.’ Kairos, 2009. Lord in your mercy…

Shadi Khoury’s court hearing has been postponed yet again until Thursday, the 24th of November. Churches and individuals around the world have been writing to their representatives urging the immediate release of Shadi. They are also calling into question Israel’s annual prosecution of 500-700 Palestinian children in military courts which lack fair trial rights and protection.

•  Lord, we continue to pray for the release of Shadi and other Palestinian children who are being held in Israeli military prisons. We pray that the U.N. and international human rights’ organisations will challenge the Israeli government for their mistreatment of Palestinian children in military custody. Lord, in your mercy..

The Nassar family have suffered  another postponement of the re-registration of their Tent of Nations farm. Their hearing is now set for Monday, the 21st of November. They have been trying to complete the re-registration since 2007. In the meantime the Nassar family are continuing to host international volunteers who are helping with the olive harvest and repairing the extensive damage caused to their crops  and property by vandals.

•  Lord Jesus, we give thanks for the steadfast resilience of the Nassar family as they draw strength from your spirit and word to continue their Christian witness on the farm. We pray for the completion of the re-registration of their land and for your guidance and comfort through the challenges they face. Lord, in your mercy…

This week Israeli soldiers shot dead a 15-year-old Palestinian girl when they were carrying out a raid in the town of Beitunia, near Ramallah. Fulla Masalmeh was travelling in a car driven by 26-year-old Anas Hassouneh, who was injured and arrested in the shooting. A local witness reported that the driver had tried to turn his car around when he spotted the soldiers along the street, but the soldiers opened fire without warning

•  Lord, we pray for  the family and friends of Fulla as they grieve her loss, on the day before her sixteenth birthday. We pray that governments around the world will challenge the Israeli government on their excessive use of lethal force and the ‘shoot-to-kill’ policy, which it is apparently directing towards Palestinians. Lord, in your mercy..

B’tselem has carried out a full investigation into an attack by Israeli soldiers and Border Police on the Hajeriyah Boys’ School in the centre of Hebron, which took place on Thursday, the 29th of September. Soldiers had been chasing some Palestinian youths who had thrown stones at the nearby Abu a-Rish checkpoint when one of the youths ran through the school grounds and out of the back gate. Fifteen soldiers then broke into the school , still in pursuit of the youth. They searched classrooms, attacked staff and dragged two 14-year-old pupils out of their lessons, beat them and detained them. They released them after questioning.

•  Lord, we pray for an end to the brutality being inflicted on Palestinians and often directed at Palestinian children by the Israeli occupation forces. We thank you for the work of Israeli human rights organisations like B’tselem and the care they take to document the human rights abuses endured by Palestinians. Lord, in your mercy..

On Wednesday, the 16th of November, the Israeli authorities issued a military order declaring its intention to seize 320 dunams,(79 acres), of Palestinian land to extend the boundaries of the illegal settlements of Neve Daniel, Elazar and Efrat, south of Bethlehem. The Israeli human rights’ organisation, Peace Now, estimates that there are now 145 large settlements and 140 outposts, with more than 666,000 illegal settlers living in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

• Lord, we cry out to you as we see more and more Palestinian land swallowed up by illegal Israeli settlements. We pray that international governments and human rights’ organisations will hold the Israeli government to account for its flagrant breach of international law. Lord, in your mercy…

• We join with the World Council of Churches in their prayers for the countries of East Timor (Timor Leste) Indonesia and the Philippines. Lord, in your mercy..