English 5th of January 2023

 

Sabeel Wave of Prayer

 5^th of January 2023

 

Next week’s Kumi Now will consider the difficulties Palestinians experience trying to run businesses or find jobs living under the Israeli occupation. So many restrictions and barriers prevent Palestinian businessmen, entrepreneurs and farmers from gaining access to the global marketplace.

 

•    Lord, we pray for courage for Palestinians to continue to seek markets for their products despite the discrimination they face living under the Israeli occupation. We pray that other countries around the world will support them in their efforts to continue their trade. Lord, in your mercy..

 

Sabeel Jerusalem extends its warmest good wishes for the New Year to all its friends around the world. We echo the words of a prayer written by Palestinian theologians for a liturgy given for ‘Jerusalem: the City of Justice and Peace, 2013’.

 

                        ‘Teach us to walk the way that leads to life,

                         Transform our grief into determination,

                         Our tears into action and our acts into a just peace.’

 

Friends of Sabeel, Germany issued an Advent Call through their churches and the media. The call raises the question of how Palestinians can respond to the ultra-right wing government now elected in Israel with plans to annex the West Bank. It argues that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions policy should not be dismissed out of hand as ‘anti-semitic’,but may now be one way to bring pressure to bear on Israel to stop oppressing the Palestinian people.

 

•    Lord, we pray that many Germans will listen to the Advent Call and consider giving their support to Palestinians living under the harsh conditions of the Israeli occupation. We pray that people in Israel and Palestine will start to  learn to live together in peace, security and respect for one another. Lord in your mercy..

 

Nora Abu Nab, a member of the Palestinian national kickboxing team, won the gold medal in her class at the Asian Kickboxing Championship held in Bangkok on Monday, the 19th of December. She will be the first Palestinian athlete to qualify for the World Martial Arts Games to be held in Riyadh in 2023.

 

•    Lord, we give thanks for Nora’s athletic skills and dedication to her chosen sport. We are encouraged by seeing Palestinians competing at world class levels, despite the restrictions imposed on them by the Israeli occupation. Lord, in your mercy…

 

Canadian Friends of Sabeel welcomed their new Executive Director, Rana Atie on Thursday, the 1st of December. Rana has twenty years of experience in Applied Communications, Public Relations and Project Management. At the tender age of fourteen Rana discovered that her grandparents were forced to flee from Haifa during the Nakba. Since that time her love for her family and her desire for social justice have formed her into a passionate activist working in solidarity with Palestinians.

 

 

 

•    Lord, we give thanks for Rana Atie and pray for your guidance and wisdom for her as she takes on this new responsibility at Canadian Friends of Sabeel. Lord, in your mercy..

 

In the early hours of Tuesday, the 24th of December, Israeli settlers seized a plot of land which belongs to the Greek Orthodox Monastery in Silwan, in occupied East Jerusalem. They fenced off the land and installed surveillance cameras under Israeli police protection. When Silwan residents rushed to try and stop the land confiscation, they were assaulted by the police.

 

•    Lord, we pray that international governments and organisations will challenge Israel for violating international law by allowing settlers to seize more and more Palestinian land. We continue to pray for the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem living under constant threat of expulsion from their homes. Lord, in your mercy…

 

•    We join with the World Council of Churches in their prayers for the countries of Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine. Lord, in your mercy…