Kumi Now will focus on the city of Jerusalem on Tuesday, the 24th of January. The United Nations’ Partition Plan in 1947 resolved that the city of Jerusalem would be an internationally administered city. However the Israeli government has taken steps to gain full Israeli sovereignty over the city, especially since the 1967 annexation of East Jerusalem.
• Lord Jesus, when you wept over Jerusalem you lamented that those living in the city could not recognise ‘the things that make for peace’. We pray for strength and guidance for all those who seek peace and righteousness in this suffering city. Lord, in your mercy…
On Thursday, the 12th of January, three Palestinians were shot and killed by Israeli soldiers. Habib Kamil ,25 years old, and Abdulhadi Nazal ,18 years old, were shot dead by live fire from Israeli troops during a raid in the town of Qabatiya, near Jenin. Earlier in the day an Israeli sniper shot Samir Aslan, a 41-year-old father of eight, when he was on the roof of his house with his family in Qalandiya refugee camp.
• Lord, we pray for the families of Habib, Abdulhadi and Samir as they grieve their loss. We pray for an end to the relentless Israeli military raids on Palestinian communities, which are provoking violence and leading to numerous arrests, injuries and extrajudicial killings. Lord, in your mercy…
Last week the US Court of Appeal in Washington dismissed the allegations brought by the Jewish National Fund, (JNF) against the United States Campaign for Palestinian Rights, (USCPR). The JNF are seeking to prove that the USCPR are liable for militant attacks against Israelis and Americans because of their support for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions and for the Great March of Return. The judge deemed the allegations were ‘insufficient’ and the attorney representing the USCPR stated that the lawsuit was an attempt to ‘smear human rights advocates as terrorists’.
• Lord, our help and our shield, we ask for protection for advocates for human rights as they face so many obstacles and attempts to silence their pleas for justice. Lord, in your mercy…
A health clinic in Kiryat Malakhi in southern Israel refused to give first aid treatment to Hamoudi Tarboosh a 23-year-old Palestinian on Wednesday, the 11th of January. He had cut his hand on a broken glass door while at work in a local store. Even though he was losing a lot of blood from the wound, the manager of the nearby clinic refused him entry and he had to travel to a hospital in Ashkelon to receive treatment. Recently the Israeli Medical Association declared that Israeli doctors ‘will never discriminate in the care they provide’. This declaration was issued in the media after the new far-right National Missions Minister had earlier stated that Israeli doctors should be allowed to refuse to provide treatments that contravene their religious faith.
• Lord, we pray that the ministers of the Israeli government will consider their pronouncements with care to avoid unleashing even stronger waves of racism and discrimination in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. Lord, in your mercy…
Israeli authorities are preparing to carry out the collective eviction of eight of the 28 neighbourhoods in the Masafer Yatta area in the South Hebron Hills.
• Lord we pray that international governments and organisations will challenge the Israeli government over their plans to forcibly evict the people of Masafer Yatta. Lord these communities have suffered so many violent attacks and home demolitions over recent years and long to be left to live peaceably on their land. Lord, in your mercy…
Late on Thursday, the 12th of January, extremists wrote racist slurs in Hebrew on the stone walls of the Armenian Church in occupied East Jerusalem. The High Presidencia Committee of the Palestinian Authority for the affairs of Churches reported that the graffiti threatened death to Arabs, Armenians and Christians. They also warned that the racist expressions of far-right Israeli government ministers are giving rise to an outbreak of ‘hate speech and ugly provocation’.
• Lord, you warn us in your word that, ‘the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness’. We pray for wisdom to learn how to bridle our tongues. We pray for those in positions of authority that they will take care to avoid enflaming violence through their public declarations. Lord, in your mercy…
• We join with the World Council of Churches in their prayers for the countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Lord, in your mercy..