Thursday November 2nd, 2017 marks
one hundred years since the Balfour Declaration was issued and set in motion
the process which led to the displacement and dispossession of millions of
Palestinians over the course of ten decades. A century later, the Palestinians
continue to be denied their basic rights to peace and security.
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Lord You are the
Almighty, the Prince of Peace and lover of Truth and Justice! Give us
hope for tomorrow. We pray for Justice and Truth in our land, that your peace
may flow like a river. Lord in your mercy…
There are 7.2 million Palestinian refugees worldwide;
one in three Palestinians is a refugee. Over 5 million Palestinian refugees
face poverty and insecurity across the occupied Palestinian territories,
Lebanon, Jordan, and in Syria.
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God of the journey, as
we remember the Palestinian refugees we recall the Holy family who fled to
Egypt. We pray for our sisters and brothers around the world and thank You for
their strength, courage, and grace. We pray for a time the international
community implements the United Nations resolutions and allow a safe return for
our families. Lord in your mercy…
The Gaza Strip and the West Bank have been
under military occupation for 50 years; the West Bank is being colonized by
illegal settlers, while the Gaza Strip languishes after a decade of siege.
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We ask God almighty to
give us peace and to put an end to the Israeli occupation
we also pray for
peace for all countries throughout the world. Lord in your …
Economic and social gaps exist between Israeli
Palestinians and Jews. Palestinian villages historically received less funding
than Jewish, affecting the quality of Israeli Arab schools, infrastructure and
social services. Generally Palestinian Israelis are treated as second class
citizens.
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Lord the ethic of love
and the practice of “loving your neighbor as yourself” are at the root of Your
vision for a just creation. Lord may there be justice, equality and peace in
Israel. Lord in your mercy…
Last week, Israel detained at least 66
Palestinians during overnight raids in the occupied West Bank and East
Jerusalem. Israeli raids in Palestinian towns, villages, and refugee camps are
of a daily occurrence.
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Lord we pray for freedom
for the falsely accused, healing for the wrongly imprisoned, and care for the
tortured or abused. Lord in your mercy set our prisoners free…
The depopulated village of Lifta, one of the
few intact abandoned Palestinian villages in Israel remaining from 1948, has
been named by the World Monuments Fund as one of 25 at-risk sites around the
world. Recently, Israeli real estate developers sought to build a luxury
neighborhood there, plans that the World Monuments Fund urged officials to
reject.
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Lord we pray that the
“World Monument Fund Organization”, intercede and are able to protect this
important site. Lord in your mercy…
We are pleased to announce that Reverend Naim
Ateek launched on Friday his new book “A Palestinian Theology of Liberation”.
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We thank you Lord for
Naim and for your inspiration in his work, and ask that it will be widely read.
May your Holy Spirit be in the thoughts and meditations of those who read it.
Lord in your mercy …
·
We join the World
Council of Churches in praying for the countries of Canada and the United
States of America. Lord in your mercy…
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