Sabeel Wave of Prayer
5th of May 2022
This year the Eid al-Fitr holiday will be
celebrated by Muslims in Palestine and Israel on Monday the 2nd of
May. The three-day feast marks the end of 30 days of fasting from dawn to dusk
during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Many Palestinians will try to cross
the Israeli military checkpoints to visit the Al Aqsa mosque in occupied East
Jerusalem to worship during this special time. However, the Israeli authorities
have imposed a military closure on the Westbank and the Gaza Strip because of
the Israeli National holidays.
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Lord, we pray for peaceful family celebrations
for Muslim families during the Eid of al-Fitr. We continue to pray that the
Israeli authorities will not provoke violence through raids at the Al-Aqsa
compound. Lord, in your mercy.. hear our prayer
A new Israeli government policy is set to come
into force on Sunday, the 22nd of May which will further restrict the entry and
residence of foreigners in the occupied West Bank.
Palestinians who hold foreign passports will
now be required to provide information to the Israeli authorities about
relatives or friends they intend to visit and whether they own property or
expect to inherit any property. Travellers wishing to visit Israeli settlers in
the occupied Territories do not have to supply any information to the Israeli
authorities.
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Lord, it is deeply disturbing to see how the
Israeli authorities are subjecting the Palestinian population, at home and in
the diaspora, to more and more restrictions and surveillance. At the same time
the authorities turn a blind eye to the way illegal Israeli settlements are
rapidly expanding. Lord, in your mercy… hear our prayer
The holiday on Sunday, the 1st of May, which is
known as Labour Day, is marked with a public holiday in Palestine/Israel and in
more than eighty other countries. Many Palestinians are constrained to pass
through checkpoints to reach their place of work and from day to day they do
not know what time they will reach their jobs. Many are forced to queue for
hours in cramped and crowded conditions.
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Lord, we pray for Palestinian people living
under the occupation who are herded like cattle through checkpoints as they go
to and from their work. We pray for an end to the occupation and for the
inhumane constraints forced on Palestinian workers as they try to earn their
livelihood and support their families. Lord in your mercy.. hear our prayer
Khalil Awawdeh was rushed by the Israeli Prison
Service from Ramleh Prison to an Israeli hospital when his medical condition
suddenly became critical. Khalil is forty years old and comes from Idhna, near
Hebron. He has been on a hunger strike for 57 days in protest at his
administrative detention order.
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Lord, we pray that there may be an improvement
in Khalil’s health and we pray that he may be released from his administrative
detention order. We pray for justice and compassion from the Israeli
authorities, that they will abandon the practice of issuing renewable
administrative detention orders on Palestinian prisoners. Lord, in your mercy.. hear our prayer
On Thursday, the 28th of April, a coalition of
46 UK based organizations urged the UK government to halt legislation which would
target boycott, divestment and sanctions, (BDS) efforts. The proposed law, due
to be announced at the Queen’s Speech on Tuesday, the 10th of May, would
prohibit public bodies from calling for BDS campaigns against foreign
countries, including Israel.
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Lord, we pray that all attempts to restrict
freedom of speech in the UK will be checked and overturned. We pray that more
people in the UK will refuse to sustain companies which are trading unethically
and profiting from the Israeli occupation. Lord, in your mercy… hear our prayer
A petition brought by four human rights
organizations on behalf of two families in Gaza was rejected by the Israeli
Supreme Court on Sunday, the 24th of April. On the 16th of July 2014, during
Israel’s attack on Gaza, seven children, brothers and cousins, were playing
football on the beach when an Israeli drone fired and killed four of the
children and injured the other three. The petitioners claim that the Israeli
air force intentionally opened fire on the children, without identification,
and that this is a serious violation of the laws of warfare and criminal law.
They will now take the case to the International Criminal Court for
consideration there.
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Lord, we pray for the Bakr family as they
continue to grieve for their children, Zakaria, Ahed, Ismail and Mohammed who
were between the ages of 9 and 11 years when they were killed. We pray that the
family may find justice for the deaths of their young children. Lord, in your
mercy.. hear our prayer
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We join with the World Council of Churches in
their prayers for the countries of Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Lord, in your mercy… hear our prayer
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