On Wednesday, the 4th of December an exhibition of the work of an internationally acclaimed Palestinian cartoonist, Mohammed Saba’aneh was removed without authorisation from the World Forum in Ramallah. Saba’aneh’s work expresses in stark black and white drawings the abuses his countrymen suffer under the Israeli occupation.

• Dear Lord, we thank you for the gift of artistic expression and the ability of artists to give insights and portray deep emotion through their work. We pray that the voice of the artist will not be stifled in the Holy Land. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.

Four journalists from the Palestinian Authorities’ official television station in Jerusalem were detained by the Israeli police on Friday, the 6th of December. The television crew were filming for the daily ‘Good Morning Jerusalem’ show outside Jerusalem’s Old City. They were detained for four hours and then released. Israeli police claimed the show breached Israel’s sovereignty over the city.

• Lord we pray for journalists in the Holy Land trying to stand for freedom of expression at their own personal risk. We pray for the repeal of repressive laws in Israel. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.

Thousands gathered to attend the lighting of the giant Christmas tree outside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on Saturday, the 1st of December. A firework display and festivities accompanied the annual ceremony in Manger Square.

• Dear Lord Jesus, Immanuel, our hearts are full of joy and thankfulness in this Advent season as we celebrate your humble birth in a stable in Bethlehem. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.

Sabeel holds its annual Ecumenical Christmas Dinner on Saturday, 14^th December in Jerusalem.

• We pray for the Sabeel Ecumenical Christmas dinner on Saturday. Local clergy from different denominations, international workers, and community members from all walks of life will gather for fellowship, food, and music. We pray that God will be glorified by our celebration. Lord in your mercy…hear our prayer.

Sabeel Jerusalem is thankful for all the hard work and goodwill of the participants (from seventeen countries) in the first Sabeel International Gathering, (2nd-7th December). We wish to express our thanks to the interfaith Al Liqa Centre, to Kairos Palestine, to Musalaha, to the Bethlehem Bible College, to Passia, to Dar Al Kalima University College in Bethlehem, and to all the friends and workers from Sabeel Jerusalem.

• Dear Lord, we are thankful for the care and effort of so many people as they focused on the International Gathering to help bring about a just and nonviolent change to the lives of Palestinians living under occupation. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.

This week’s Kumi Now Initiative looks at the work of Al-Marsad, the Arab Human Rights’ Centre in the Golan Heights. Al-Marsad seeks to protect the human rights of 20,000 Syrians, mostly Druze Arabs, living in the Golan Heights. Decades of US policy was overturned in March 2019 when President Trump recognised Israeli sovereignty over the area. There are now more than thirty Israeli settlements in the area, which are considered illegal under international law.

• Dear Lord, we pray for Al-Marsad and for all those who work to defend the human rights of those who have no voice of their own. We pray that the Israeli government will stop using the anti-boycott law as a repressive measure to silence any group that attempts to uncover human rights abuses. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.

Sixty-Four Palestinian civilians, including 19 children, a paramedic, and 4 women; one of them was a paramedic, were shot and injured by Israeli occupation forces’ (IOF) fire against peaceful protestors at the 83rd Great March of Return (GMR), this Friday, 06 December 2019.

• 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.

Lord, we the participants of the Sabeel gathering cry out to you that this year

Will be a time to speak truth to power.

Will be a time to break the silence surrounding injustice.

Will be the year for peace, the year for Palestine.

Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.

Lord, we the participants of the Sabeel gathering cry out to you that this year

Will be the time to share Jerusalem, with East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine.

Will be the time for Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities to be free to visit their holy sites.

Will be the time for olive trees in this land to flourish and grow old.

Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.

Lord, we the participants of the Sabeel gathering cry out to you that this year

Will be the time to name the shame of collective punishment and to end it in all its forms.

Will be the time to voice rejection of violence against civilians and for civilians to be safe.

Will be the time for Israel to release Palestinian prisoners.

Will be the time to reunite the people of Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.

Will be the time for all parties to obey international humanitarian and human rights law.

Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.