Displaying items by tag: israel

Britain has a key role in the peace of Jerusalem. 100 years ago in late 1917, the British Army commanded by General Allenby entered Jerusalem and liberated it from the occupying Turkish and German forces. This then enabled the Balfour declaration issued earlier in the year to be implemented leading after many years to the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948. Psalm 122 tells us “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem may those who love you be secure.” Having seen a significant change in the military struggles in Iraq and Syria in recent weeks, attention is now turning back to Israel.

President Trump is significantly more pro-Israel than his predecessor and is planning to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This would be highly symbolic as Jerusalem is in disputed territory whereas Tel Aviv is in the land allocated to Israel in 1948. Until 1967 the city was divided with East Jerusalem in Jordanian hands, but the city was reunited in the six day war. The UN and most nations do not recognise the legitimacy of Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem. For many Muslims the status of Jerusalem is more important than the issue of the Palestinians. Jerusalem is their holy city.

Jerusalem is an emotive and controversial issue. Any changes to its status will have consequences. There have been recent terrorist attacks on the city but with Muslim and US relations deteriorating, changes to Jerusalem could create many serious issues.

So we go back to the scripture - pray for Jerusalem. Pray for God’s sovereign purposes, for His will for this important city and pray for the city’s safety in these increasingly uncertain times.

Thursday night was storming, and in the hills of Samaria, a few miles north of Shilo, an Israeli bus traveling from a nearby settlement veered into a guardrail, broke through and plunged down the 230 foot embankment, coming to rest on its top.  This is in an area of the contested “Territories” with communities of both Jews and Palestinian Arabs, but which is patrolled and under the oversight of Israel.  A Palestinian family witnessed the crash from their home; they immediately called police, then tore out of their home, down the hill to render aid. When police, ambulances and troops arrived to help, there were the Arab family members down in the ravine in their pajamas in the pouring rain with flashlights trying to extract survivors and help those who were wounded.  Working together, all were pulled from the wreckage, and taken up to the road where a medical helicopter was waiting.  Two were dead, seven others wounded.   A Captain medical officer at the scene credited the quick work of the Palestinian family with saving lives.  One observer commented how the “complex reality” of the region was underscored by the arrival of troops to assist.  They had been part of a brigade a few kilometers away in hot pursuit of a Palestinian terrorist who during the previous 24 hours had carried out two shooting attacks.  When word of the accident reached them, they decided to split up so that some could come assist.  When they arrived at the bus, there were members of a Palestinian family working in the rain to administer aid to Jewish settlers trapped under the bus.

When word of the accident was written up in Israeli newspapers, it was with a kind of wonder at the grace shown by this family to Jews in distress.  “Palestinian Family was First to help Bus Crash Victims, Call Police”  read one headline; “Palestinian Family saves Israeli lives in Nighttime Bus Crash” read another.  There is great distrust and hostility between Arab and Jewish communities in this area. The name of the family wasn’t given—likely to protect them from reprisals by their own neighbors for daring to offer kindness to Israelis in distress. 

We are touched by the actions of this “Good Samaritan” family—in the heart of modern-day Samaria.  It is so essential that we realize, for all the contention and hatred roiling in this most-contested place on earth, that God’s merciful Spirit of grace is working, crossing through borders and ethnic and religious walls.  And “a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.”

PLEASE PRAY:

*  Blessing upon the “nameless” Palestinian family which came to the aid of the stricken Israeli bus.  Pray that the light of God’s Grace will shine into their lives, and illumine them on the path He has for them.

• A capacity in Israel to see one’s “neighbor” beyond ethnic lines, even, when possible, beyond the lines drawn  in active regional conflict.  That we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, whoever they are—because God does.  That we must not depersonalize the souls of those on “the other side.”
• For the Spirit of God in kindness to draw Palestinian Arabs into revelation and the salvation of the One who loves them, who is the Saviour of the World.  When this happens, may it not be they more than any others who will be able to provoke their Hebrew neighbors to the jealousy Paul speaks of in Romans 10 and 11.  So that All Israel shall be Saved!

Martin & Norma Sarvis,

Jerusalem

Report on Day of Prayer January 6, 2017

   Although we were few in number, there was representation from a wide spectrum of the body of Messiah in the land; both from the Arabic speaking sector (Israeli Palestinian and West Bank Palestinian), and from the Hebrew speaking sector including Ethiopian and Russian background brothers and sisters. We experienced a strong sense of the unity of the body. This was foundational for us as we joined our hearts in corporate prayer.

   The day was very productive and we spent the majority of the time in prayer both for the Body of Messiah and the nation. We began with focused prayer based on the prayer points we had identified in our previous meeting. We sought the Lord for additional prayer points that we should be in prayer about.  After identifying further areas for prayer, we prayed into them.  (these additional points are attached)

     At the conclusion of the day, we corporately decided to continue with this initiative. Our desire is to widen the circle of those who come together in this initiative of transformative prayer. The participants were encouraged to recommend this initiative to others. We, the organizers will issue invitations to new participants.

 Evan Thomas and Lisa Loden

Prayer Points:

Prayer for ourselves and the Body of Christ

1. Need to return to our first love – Revelation 2:1-7
2. Imbalance between knowledge and obedience
3. For bridging the “generation gap” between pastors/leaders and the younger generation. (for greater sensitivity to the young people and their needs)
4. For greater sensitivity to the poverty that exists in the Body of the Messisah
5. For the congregations to be more relevant in the society
6. For recognition of the brokenness within the leadership community leading to healing and a willingness to pray with one another.
7. To identify the root causes if the young people’s disenchantment with the congregations.

Prayer for the nation

1. Pray into the issues of societal disorder, unhealthy hierarchies that leave the population oppressed or in despair
2. Pray into the issue of selfishness, sense of entitlement (particularly among young people) leading to rebellion against God.
3. Need for healthy alternative to media exposure of harmful values and ideologies
4. For God’s hand on those who inpositions of responsibility in government
5. To express radical love for government leaders
6. For the next generation
7. Romans 13:1

Lisa Loden, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

It has been alleged that Israeli authorities collaborated with student campaigners in an attempt to topple the president of the UK’s National Union of Students (NUS), Malia Bouattia. Al Jazeera reports that the Israeli embassy in Britain and the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) have sponsored attempts to influence student politics, manipulate NUS elections, and even bring down the current president. NUS vice-president Richard Brooks is seen in undercover filming footage telling a reporter posing as a student that he is the one helping to organise Bouattia’s opponents; however, he has since denied that he has had any contact with the Israeli government. Bouattia, who represents more than four million students, ran on an openly pro-Palestinian platform, and has been criticised in the British media for calling herself anti-Zionist.

A man from the predominantly Bedouin southern city of Rahat has been arrested for posting a video on his Facebook page that called for people to carry out car-ramming attacks, Israeli police said in a statement on Wednesday. The video featured footage from last Sunday’s terror attack, in which an East Jerusalem man drove his truck into a group of Israeli soldiers, then backed up and ran over them again, killing four and injuring dozens. In the background of the video a voice, speaking in Arabic, encouraged people to carry out similar attacks. Police said the suspect, a thirty-year-old Rahat resident, was first detained on Tuesday and would remain in jail at least until  Sunday. ‘While protecting free speech, we cannot allow incitement and threats on Facebook’, the statement said. Earlier in the week, police arrested four residents of the Old City in Jerusalem for spray-painting graffiti praising Fadi al-Qunbar, the driver in Sunday’s attack.