Sabeel Wave of Prayer: Week of July 1, 2019

On Friday, 28 June 2019, in excessive use of force against peaceful protesters on the 64th   Friday of the Great March of Return and Breaking the Siege, Israeli forces wounded 128 Palestinian civilians, including 38 children, 3 women, 7 paramedics, and a journalist. Four of those wounded sustained serious wounds.

Lord, we continue to pray for the people of Gaza as they raise their voices in protest. May your will be done so that all the people of this land may come to enjoy the fruits of a just peace. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.

This week marks one of three occasions in the year designated as a Kumi Check-in when supporters of Kumi Now are encouraged to evaluate the initiative. Comments on the entries or the non-violent actions demonstrating solidarity with Palestinians would be especially welcome during the first week of July by email.

Dear Lord, we thank you for the Kumi Now initiative which seeks to inform and to suggest ways of engaging with non-violent actions to show support for Palestinians living under the Israeli occupation. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.

An economic workshop took place In Bahrain on Tuesday, the 25th of June and Wednesday, the 26th of June. The event hosted delegations from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Egypt. There were no delegations from Palestine or Israel. The Palestinian Authority boycotted the event after the Trump administration recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Jared Kushner called for major economic investment in the Palestinian Territories, as well as in Jordan, the Lebanon and Egypt, without specifying where such investment would come from. The political details of the White House plan remain secret.

Lord, we pray for the Palestinian people as they watch their future debated in Bahrain without consideration for the internationally recognized rights and concerns. We pray that they and their supporters may not lose heart but remain steadfast in their pursuit of a just peace in Palestine/Israel. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer

Oman announced it would open an embassy in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah. The official pronouncement coincided with the second day of the Bahrain workshop. It was designed to affirm the sultanate’s continued support for the Palestinian people.

Dear Lord, we pray that the presence of the Omani Embassy in Ramallah will help their government keep well informed about the struggles faced by Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt broke open a new tunnel running under a Palestinian village in East Jerusalem during a ceremony inaugurating a settler archaeological project. The ceremony, inaugurating the “Path of the Pilgrims” in the Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem, was organized by the settler organization Elad.

Lord, we pray that the undermining of the Palestinian presence in Jerusalem in the name of archaeology will come to an end. May the US and Israeli officials and settler bodies come to accept that the internationally accepted division of Jerusalem cannot be changed by underhanded means. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.

Salwa Qubti has finally won her forty-year legal battle with the Israeli military. She has been fighting for the right to visit the grave of her father who died in the Nakba over seventy years ago. His grave lies in the Christian cemetery in the village of Ma’lul in the Nazareth area and an Israeli Air Force base is now located over its ruins. Salwa never met her father as she was born in July 1948, four months after her father’s death and burial. The family were expelled from the village by Israelis and sent to live in Nazareth.

Dear Lord, we thank you that Salwa will now feel some sense of closure as she has finally been permitted to visit her father’s grave. We pray that she will be accompanied by her relatives to help her travel, as she is now confined to a wheelchair. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer

World Refugee Day was marked on Thursday, the 20th of June. UNRWA records show that the number of registered Palestinian refugees in 2018 came to about 6 million,which accounts for about half the number of Palestinians throughout the world, (about 13 million). Palestinian refugees live in Jordan, Syria, the Lebanon, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, while two thirds of the population of Gaza are refugees suffering unemployment and extreme poverty.

Dear Jesus, when you set out on your ministry in the Holy Land you had no home to call your own. We pray that you will look with mercy on those who have fled and who continue to flee from danger, homelessness and hunger. We pray too that you will bless those who work to bring relief to those suffering poverty and despair. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.

We join with the World Council of Churches in their prayers for the countries of Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.