26/5/11 - English

We pray for participants in World Week for Peace in Palestine Israel, a World Council of Churches initiative taking place May 29-June 4 that encourages prayer, education, and advocacy in support of a just peace for all in Palestine and Israel. As people of faith around the world gather next week in prayer and action, we pray that God will change the hearts of those who maintain the occupation, filling them with a desire for justice and peace, and that all those who continue to suffer from oppression and violence will find reprieve. We also join Sabeel in prayer for the peace of Jerusalem: http://sabeel.org/news.php?eventid=206 .

As the Palestinian schools and universities finish another school year this week and enter the summer holidays, we pray for the wellbeing of all the children and young adults who are the promise of the future. We especially pray for all the students graduating this year; may God’s blessing and peace be upon them and help guide them through the next stages in life.

This weekend, May 28 and 29, a joint Sabeel Jerusalem/Nazareth Young Adult program will bring together youth from the Galilee, Jerusalem and the West Bank to commemorate the Nakba in the Galilee. As they join Christian and Muslim youth from the area on Saturday to clean the church and mosque in the Palestinian village of al-Bassa that was depopulated in 1948 and to visit and worship on Sunday in the village of Kufr Yasif, we pray that this time of remembering the past nakba, or catastrophe, will help all of us work to end the ongoing nakba.

We pray for all of those who pray with us each week through the Wave of Prayer in North America, that they would be encouraged and strengthened to work from their own countries for peace with justice for all people. Especially as the Canadian government continues strictly pro-Israel rhetoric and after Obama’s and Netanyahu’s meetings with AIPAC and the US Congress, we pray for the increasingly important grassroots movements and advocacy in North America.

With the Prayer Cycle of the World Council of Churches, we pray for: Botswana, Zimbabwe

19/5/11 - English

We pray for the family and community of Milad Ayiash, a sixteen year old Palestinian boy who died Saturday morning after being shot in the stomach during East Jerusalem’s Friday demonstrations to commemorate the Nakba, the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes during the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. We continue to pray for a just and lasting solution to this conflict that has brought such pain the last 63 years, so that future generations may live in peace.

Nonviolent mass protests on Nakba Day, Sunday May 15, in Gaza, the West Bank and along Israel’s borders with Syria and Lebanon left as many as 16 dead, hundreds injured and many arrested. We pray for all those affected by the military’s violence and that this grassroots movement will inspire the political activity and discussions in the US, Israel and the Palestinian territories this week towards bold and positive change that will bring an end to the suffering all around.

We pray for the participants in the joint Jerusalem-Nazareth Sabeel Clergy and Women program on Tuesday, May 24. Women from Jerusalem, Nazareth, and several villages in the West Bank will visit Kufur-Qud, Burqiin and Zababdeh to discuss challenges facing women, study the Bible and worship together. We pray that this time of fellowship and learning from each other will lead to closer relationships among these Christian communities. We also pray for Sabeel Nazareth’s programs this week: a lecture with Mr. Foud Farah about the Christian Presence in the Holy Land on Wednesday, May 18, as well as a children’s program about the Nakba on Saturday, May 21.

Our prayers are with the organizers, speakers and participants of the Friends of Sabeel UK Conference and Annual General Meeting titled “Christianity, Zionism and Justice?” on Saturday, May 21, 2011. We pray that speakers Prof Ilan Pappé and Rev Stephen Sizer will inspire new conversations and actions towards a better understanding of the nature of the conflict and ways to a peaceful resolution. We also pray for safe travels and open audiences as Rev Naim Ateek speaks in Germany this week.

With the Prayer Cycle of the World Council of Churches, we pray for: Malawi, Zambia

12/5/11 - English

We pray for the people of Egypt, where 12 people died and more than 180 were wounded in clashes last Saturday after conservative Muslims attacked a church in the Imbaba area in Cairo. Over the last months, many Christians and Muslims had protested alongside each other and protected each other during prayer times. But in March, 13 people died in sectarian clashes in another neighborhood. We pray that the Egyptian government will work on security for both Christians and Muslims and that both communities will respect each other and peacefully live together, since we are all created in the image of God.

As Israel celebrated Independence Day on Tuesday May 10, and the Palestinians commemorate the Nakba on Sunday May 15, we pray for all the Palestinian refugees around the world who are still longing for their return. We also pray for the Sabeel Nazareth branch, who are organizing a visit for Palestinian internal refugees living in Nazareth to their demolished villages Ferda and Tsfad. The Israeli government, the Knesset, passed a law last year which makes it illegal for Israeli bodies that receive allocations from the government to commemorate the Nakba and to teach about the Nakba in both Jewish-Israeli and Arab-Israeli schools. We thank God for brave Israelis, such as Zochrot in Tel Aviv, who organized a Nakba commemoration in Tel Aviv on Monday evening May 9. 

 

As the Kairos document, which was launched in December 2009, called for Christians around the world to ‘ Come and See’, we are very glad that people around the world are signing up for both the Young Adult Conference in July and the Witness Visit in September. We pray for the Sabeel staff who are organizing the programs and for the participants that they will be encouraged to work for a just peace in Israel and Palestine. 

 

We pray for the programs organized by the Sabeel Nazareth branch in the Galilee this week.  This Friday, young Palestinian Christians in Nazareth gather for a workshop entitled “Living in a Pluralistic Society: how to respect each other and work together”. This workshop will be led by a Palestinian-Israeli Muslim. We pray that this workshop will inspire the young people to approach every human being as a beautiful creation of God, who deserves to be loved and respected.

With the Prayer Cycle of the World Council of Churches, we pray for: Kenya, Tanzania

5/5/11 - Français

Prions pour une véritable unité en Palestine au moment où le Fatah et le Hamas viennent de signer au Caire un accord de réconciliation comportant la formation d’un gouvernement intérimaire et des élections sous un an. Pour que cette réconciliation attendue depuis longtemps entre la Cisjordanie et Gaza, et aussi l’annonce par l'Égypte de l’ouverture du passage de Rafah à sa frontière avec Gaza, conduisent à la levée attendue depuis encore plus longtemps du siège de Gaza, à la fin de l’occupation israélienne et à un avenir durable pour la Palestine.

Avec la journée commémoration du génocide arménien le 24 avril et la journée de commémoration de l’Holocauste en Israël le 2 mai, souvenons-nous de tous ceux qui ont subi des actes violents et dévastateurs de racisme, de discrimination et de haine. Prions pour que nous puissions tous tirer les enseignements du passé et mettre fin aux manifestations violentes d’intolérance actuelles et futures

Prions en union avec la population de Naplouse qui a subi ces dernières semaines une recrudescence des actions des colons de droite en vue de tentatives non autorisées de présence israélienne permanente à la tombe de Joseph malgré la possibilité d’avoir une escorte israélienne armée pour se rendre à la tombe. Avec le projet formulé par les colons de créer une colonie au cœur de Naplouse dans les mêmes conditions que les débuts de la première colonie fondée à Hébron, prions pour que prennent fin ces tentatives ainsi que l’accroissement de la violence et de la présence militaire que cela entraîne à Naplouse.

Portons dans notre prière les participants aux programmes d’après Pâques de Sabeel à Jérusalem : rencontre du clergé mercredi 4 mai, rencontre pique-nique des jeunes adultes le 6 mai. Comme ces rassemblements œcuméniques profitent de l’autorisation donnée pendant les congés à quelques Chrétiens palestiniens d’entrer à Jérusalem pendant la période de Pâques, prions pour que le clergé et les jeunes des différentes Églises d’Israël, de Jérusalem Est et de Cisjordanie découvrent des façons nouvelles de servir la communauté.

5/5/11 - English

We pray for genuine unity in Palestine as Fatah and Hamas signed a reconciliation deal in Cairo on Wednesday that includes the formation of an interim government and elections within a year. We pray that this long-called for reconciliation between the West Bank and Gaza, as well as Egypt’s announcement to open the Rafah border with Gaza, will help lead to the even longer desired lift of the siege of Gaza, end to the Israeli occupation and a sustainable future for Palestine.

As Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day was commemorated on April 24 and Holocaust Remembrance Day was commemorated in Israel on May 2, we remember all those who have been affected by the violent and devastating actions of racism, discrimination and hatred. We pray that we can all learn from the past to stop current and future violent manifestations of intolerance.

Our prayers are with the people of Nablus, who in recent weeks have experienced increasing right-wing Jewish settler activity centered on unauthorized attempts for a permanent Israeli presence at Joseph’s tomb despite available Israeli armed escort to the tomb. With the settler’s voiced plan to start a settlement in the heart of Nablus in a similar fashion to how the first settlement began in Hebron, we pray for an end to these attempts and the increased violence and military presence in Nablus that they entail.

We hold in prayer the participants of Sabeel’s post-Easter programs in Jerusalem: the Clergy Meeting on Wednesday, May 4, and the Young Adult BBQ on Friday, May 6. As these ecumenical gatherings take advantage of holiday permission given to some Palestinian Christians to enter Jerusalem during the Easter season, we pray that the clergy and youth from the different churches in Israel, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank will be inspired with ideas to serve the community in new ways.

With the Prayer Cycle of the World Council of Churches, we pray for: Sudan, Uganda