30/10/2014 - English

Lord, Israel’s violations of international law continue to provoke disturbances in East Jerusalem.  Israel announced that it will move ahead with plans for over 1,000 housing units in Har Homa and Ramat Shlomo, two illegal Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem. In recent weeks several Jewish settler families relocated to a building in the Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem, and Israeli authorities continue to control and limit access of Palestinian worshippers to Al Aqsa Mosque.  God, we pray for a time of calm in this broken city and an urgently needed political solution for this land.  Lord in your mercy… God of justice, we are disturbed by Israel’s announcement that Palestinians living in the West Bank will be banned from using Israeli-run buses in the West Bank when returning home from their jobs inside Israel. Now only illegal Jewish settlers living in the West Bank will be allowed to ride these buses, and hundreds of Palestinians, mostly laborers, will have to find alternative transportation. Lord in your mercy… Yet another Palestinian child was killed this week in the West Bank, this time in the village of Silwad, near Ramallah.  A 14-year-old boy was shot dead by Israeli forces during clashes there.  God, we pray that the Palestinian children will no longer have to suffer the most under this oppressive and illegal occupation of Palestinian land.  Lord in your mercy… Lord, we ask for your blessing on the upcoming Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA) conference in Cambridge, “Breaking a Generation,” about how the Israeli occupation damages Palestinian children and harms Israeli society. We thank you for all the activists who will attend who work creatively and passionately for peace and justice in Palestine and Israel. Lord in your mercy… 
We pray alongside the World Council of Churches for the Indian Ocean Islands: Comoros, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius, and Seychelles.  Lord in your mercy…
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