Sabeel Wave of Prayer
22ND of
June, 2023
Next week’s Kumi Now will look at
Israel as a nuclear power. Israel neither denies nor admits to owning nuclear
weapons, but is thought to have 80-90 nuclear warheads. It has declined to sign
the Treaty for the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, (NPT) and has never
allowed the International Atomic Energy Agency, (IAEA), to supervise its
nuclear production.
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Lord, we know that nuclear weapons are so powerful and
could unleash untold damage in our world. We pray that Israel would admit to
its nuclear power industry and sign up to international agreements to limit its
production and supervise its handling of weapons. Lord, in your mercy…
The Israeli army has stated that the
soldier who fatally wounded two-year-old Mohammad Tamimi in Nabi Saleh, on the
2nd of June, will not face any disciplinary action. Nor will the soldiers who
bound and gagged eighty-year-old Palestinian/American Omar Asad at a temporary
checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, in January 2022. Omar suffered a cardiac
arrest brought on by the stress of physical violence. The Israeli soldiers who
detained him left him unresponsive on a construction site, claiming they
assumed he had fallen asleep.
•
Lord, we pray for the families of Mohammad and Omar as they
mourn their violent deaths. We pray for these Palestinian families and many
others who face their bereavement, knowing that those responsible for their
sorrow will not face any consequences for the crimes they have committed. Lord,
in your mercy…
The United Nations Relief and Works
Agency, (UNRWA), is struggling to fulfil its mandate to provide services to 5.9
million Palestinian refugees living in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and
Lebanon. Cuts in donor funding and rising costs are throwing the agency into
crisis. Staff teams across the West Bank have just returned to work after a
month-long strike over salary reductions.
•
Lord, we cry out to you as we watch the world turn away
from the gathering crisis of more and more Palestinians born into refugee
status, living their lives as refugees and dying as refugees. We pray for an
end to their confinement and the implementation of a just solution to their
problem according to UN resolution. Lord, in your mercy…
A growing number of children living in
Gaza are suffering ‘ongoing trauma’ according to a recent Save the Children
report. In less than eighteen years they have experienced Israeli bombings and
attacks during fifteen military operations. Thousands of people have been
killed in the enclave and there is no escape for those who remain. Children make
up almost half the population in Gaza and many of them experience high levels
of anxiety leading to frequent bedwetting, lapses in concentration and
difficulties in communication.
•
Lord, the lives of children in Gaza are blighted by
poverty, warfare and trauma.
We pray for an end to this suffering
and the inhumane Israeli blockade of the Gaza strip. Lord, in your mercy..
Weekly protests have been held by the
Armenian community in Jerusalem over alleged secret land sales by their
Patriarch Archbishop Manougian to Israeli investors in East Jerusalem. The
disputed land sale would make up about 25% of the Armenian Quarter in the Old
City and would result in loss of property to the population of several thousand
Armenian Christians who live in the area.The Palestinian Authority and the
Jordanian government have now intervened to try and revoke the disputed
contract and protect the Armenian community.
•
Lord, we pray that any secretive deals over Armenian
community land in the Old City may be cancelled. We pray that attempts to drive out Christians
and Moslems from the Old City will be resisted and that Jerusalem will remain a
place where Christians, Jews and Moslems can continue to live and worship at
their holy sites. Lord in your mercy…
Last week the Russian Embassy in
Israel announced that it will be building a branch office in West Jerusalem to
serve its consular section. About 15% of Israel’s population is made up of
immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Israel welcomed the announcement as it
is keen to increase the number of foreign missions in Jerusalem, hoping other
countries will recognise it as its capital.
•
Lord, we pray that international leaders will consider
carefully before opening foreign missions or embassies in Jerusalem, lending
credence to establishing it as Israel’s capital city and threatening any future peace process with
the Palestinians. Lord, in your mercy..
Sabeel is meeting with a partner
organisation to discuss setting up a year-long review of the Palestinian
educational curriculum. It carried out a partial review in 2018 and passed on
its findings to the Palestinian Ministry of Education. The new project will
assess the inclusiveness of the curriculum and will propose ways in which
education could draw communities
together in mutual respect and understanding.
•
Lord Jesus, you came to the earth to bring us abundant life
and to bring it to us all. We pray that those undertaking the review of the
Palestinian curriculum will be guided by your grace to help draw together young
people from diverse backgrounds to learn to respect their differences and to be
unified in their desire to love and serve one another. Lord, in your mercy…
•
We join with the World Council of Churches in their prayers
for the countries of Malawi and Zambia. Lord, in your mercy..
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