Thursday, April 25, 2013

25/4/13 - English

Lord God, we pray that the people whose decisions affect life in Palestine and Israel so much would make wise and loving choices. God, today we thank you for the many organizations making morally responsible choices about investment and refusing to profit from companies connected with actions or policies that are illegal according to international law (e.g. Israeli settlements and military occupation). We especially lift up the Quaker Friends Fiduciary Corporation and the Mennonite Central Committee U.S. who have both recently publically refused to invest in institutions connected with violence against Palestinians. We pray for continued initiatives of morally responsible choices from around the world. Lord, in your mercy...

In a similar vein, we thank you for all organizations bringing awareness to civil rights violations. We especially pray for Bimkom and The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) who petitioned against an unapproved document that is being used to limit Palestinian rights to build in East Jerusalem and justify demolitions of East Jerusalem homes. As ACRI aptly stated, “Palestinian residents face extreme limitations on building and planning, and suffer from acute shortage of housing, crowded living conditions, and an across-the-board lack of public spaces and institutions.” God, may these injustices be exposed so that they may be rooted out from these systems imposed on Palestinians. Lord, in your mercy...

We pray also with regard to the Israeli Knesset’s recent one-year extension of the Nationality and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Order) which began as a temporary law in 2003 and has now been extended over 10 times. God, would you bring an end to the indefinite extensions of this discriminatory law that prevents Palestinian Jerusalemites and Arab Israelis from obtaining citizenship, or even residency, for spouses from the West Bank or Gaza. Lord, despite UN condemnation, the Israeli Supreme Court continues to uphold the law, allowing for grievous division of families. Please show Israel that this law and other discriminatory practices are destructive to all life in this land. Lord, in your mercy...

Here at Sabeel, we pray for your blessing on this Friday evening’s Easter program in Nazareth. We pray also that the new edition of the Cornerstone, titled “Let Justice Roll...” would reach many people around the world with important information and theology concerning the situation in Palestine and Israel. Lord, in your mercy...

We pray for all the Armenians living here in Jerusalem and all over the world. On this anniversary of the horrific genocide of the Armenian people, we remember the victims of the genocide and pray a blessing on their descendants. We pray in hope for a world in which such violent acts would never be repeated. Lord, in your mercy...

Finally, we pray with the World Council of Churches for the peoples of Djibouti and Somalia. Lord, in your mercy...

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