English 23rd of March 2023

 

Sabeel Wave of Prayer

23^rd of March 2023

 

Next week Kumi Now will highlight how the blockade has affected Gaza since it was fully  enforced by Israel and Egypt in 2007. The people have been denied access to most of the natural resources needed for their sustenance. It has been called the biggest prison on Earth.

 

•    Compassionate and merciful Lord, we bring the residents of Gaza to you as they try to survive amid poverty, unemployment and frequent military attacks from Israel. We pray for an end to the blockade and the restoration of life and health to this piece of your creation. Lord, in your mercy..

 

•    Lord Jesus, we ask you to draw near to a number of our friends from the Sabeel family who are suffering serious illness at this time. We pray for Robert Assaly from Canada, Ken Sparks from Australia and Jean Zaru, a founding member of Sabeel and ask for your comforting and healing hands to hold these dear friends. For those whose sufferings we do not know about, may they also know your power to heal. Lord, in your mercy…

 

The Israeli army carried out an undercover raid in the occupied city of Jenin last week. Israeli soldiers shot and killed four Palestinians, Yousef Shriem ,29, Nidal Khazem, 28, Omar Awadin, 14 and Luay Zghayyar, 37. This raid comes after three Palestinians were shot and killed in Jenin just last week.

 

•    Lord, we pray for the family and friends of Yousef, Nidal, Omar and Luay as they grieve their loss. We pray also for the Palestinians recovering in hospital suffering from serious gunshot wounds. We pray for an end to these deadly Israeli army raids which bring further unrest and terror to occupied Palestinian cities. Lord, in your mercy..

 

During this Lenten season Palestinian Christians are devoting themselves to times of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. While this week Palestinian Muslims will mark the beginning of  Ramadan by fasting from sunrise to sunset, taking part in charitable acts and meeting up with family members.

 

•    Lord, we pray that during this season we will draw aside in worship and prayer. As we bring our prayers for our families and neighbours to you, help us to remember to pray faithfully for our Palestinian brothers and sisters. May we stand with them as they cling to the word of hope, which helps them resist the dispossession and injustice they suffer under occupation. Lord, in your mercy..

 

Last week a number of settlers attacked a Palestinian family living in a tent near the village of Deir Jarir, east of Ramallah. The Israelis from a nearby settlement beat Sadek Farakhneh and his family members and raided his barn, stealing his donkey and thirty sheep. After the settler attack Israeli soldiers raided his tent and assaulted him. He has been offered emergency help from the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission.

 

 

•    Lord, we are deeply shocked by these pitiless assaults on Palestinian subsistence farmers, like Sadek. We pray that international organisations and governments will challenge the Israeli government for the way they grant impunity to the Israeli assailants. Lord, in your mercy…

 

On Friday, the 10th of March, Israeli soldiers detained a young boy from Hebron on the charge of throwing stones. Abdul Shakeen from the Tal Rumeida neighbourhood was arrested, taken to a military post, beaten, verbally abused and released some hours later.

 

•    Lord Jesus, we pray for the Palestinian children who are arrested, assaulted, abused and imprisoned by the Israeli army. We pray that the Israeli government will be held to account by the international community to respect the human rights of Palestinian children and to abide by international law in how they treat them. Lord, in your mercy..

 

Five hundred Gazan school pupils gathered together in the Khan Younis neighbourhood to fly Japanese-inspired kites to mark seventy years of partnership between Japan and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East. During 2023 the partnership will be celebrated with events based on a shared theme of ‘tsumugu’ (meaning ‘connect, spin, weave’).

 

•    Lord, we give thanks as the Gazan students continue to reach out to the people of Japan, just as they did in the 2011 East Japan Earthquake. We also thank you for the steadfast and generous help for UNRWA, provided by the Japanese people over the past seventy years. Lord, in your mercy..

 

•    We join with the World Council of Churches in their prayers for the countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Lord, in your mercy…