Sabeel Wave of Prayer
Thursday 13th February 2020
This week’s Kumi Now initiative focuses on the work of the Mossawa Centre in Haifa. This non-governmental organisation works to protect the rights of Palestinian Arab citizens in Israel. In Arabic ‘mossawa’ means equality. The organisation works hard to monitor government budgets in Israel and prepares reports exposing discrimination against Arabs in the way services are financed.
- Dear Lord, we pray for all organisations focused on justice and equality for all communities in Israel. We pray that the Israeli Knesset will listen to requests for a more just distribution of resources to the Palestinian Arab citizens living in Israel. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.
Two young Palestinians were killed by Israeli live fire over the past week. During a demonstration in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, the 6th of February. Yazan Abu Tabikh, a nineteen-year-old, was killed and seven others were wounded in a clash with Israeli forces as they started to demolish a Palestinian home. A seventeen-year-old, Mohammed al-Haddad was shot dead by Israeli forces during clashes in Hebron on the previous day.
- Dear Lord, we pray for the families of Yazan and Mohammed as they mourn their loss. We pray, too for a calming of the rising tension between Palestinian protestors and the Israeli military forces, which has intensified since the Trump Middle East plan was revealed. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in the occupied Palestinian Territories, Michael Lynk, has commented that the Trump Middle East Plan ‘is a lopsided proposal entirely in favour of one side of the conflict’ and that it would ‘ endorse the creation of a 21st century Bantustan in the Middle East’.
- Lord, we pray that the UN and the wider international community would redouble their efforts to achieve a just and equitable peace on the basis of equal rights for Palestinians and Israelis alike. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.
On Monday, the third of February Palestinian prisoners from four prisons chose to observe a hunger strike for two hours in protest at the dire conditions suffered by child and women prisoners at Damon prison. The Prisoners’ Commission and the Prisoners’ Society have reported that women and child prisoners at Damon are held without warm clothes and blankets in the cold weather and provided with poor quality food.
- Dear Lord, we pray for an end to the occupation of the Palestinian territories. May the conditions of Palestinian prisoners be improved and an end be brought to moving them into Israel proper which is against International law. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.
On Thursday, February 6, Sabeel Jerusalem announced that they will be having a Young Adult Gathering June 2020. In the spirit of gathering and Kumi, we hope to have young adults join from around the world to hear, learn, and plan how to further work for a just peace in our world.
- Dear Lord, we thank you for this new generation of peacemakers in Your name. For their passion for justice and a better world where all are loved and human rights and no longer violated. We pray for guidance as the program is planned and we at Sabeel prepare for this gathering. Lord, in Your mercy…hear our prayer.
- Lord, we remember the poor and the homeless in Palestine during the current cold and wintry weather. We pray for the provision of shelter and sustenance for them. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.
We join with the World Council of Churches in their prayers for the countries of Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer