Violent incidents in Israel this week have brought suffering on the same day to the families of two teenagers, one Israeli and the other Palestinian. Aryah Shechopek, a 15-year-old yeshiva student was killed by one of the bomb explosions carried out in Jerusalem early on Wednesday, the 23rd of November. While Ahmed Shehadeh was a sixteen-year-old Palestinian caught up in the clashes at Joseph’s tomb in Nablus. He was one of two Palestinians shot dead by Israeli soldiers while they were protecting a monthly pilgrimage of Orthodox Jewish worshippers to the shrine.
• Lord, we pray for the families and friends of Aryah and Ahmed as they grieve for the loss of their lives. We pray for an end to the vortex of violence in Israel which is swallowing up so many young lives, both Israeli and Palestinian.
Lord, in your mercy..