Like me, I expect you have been shocked and saddened in recent weeks by moves from Israel to permanently annex yet more areas of the West Bank, finally putting paid to any hopes of a two-state solution to the tensions that have for so long dogged the Middle East. I fully support the right of Israel to exist and to safeguard its borders, and I censure without reserve any form of anti-Semitism such as has come to characterise many elements of the hard left in Britain, but at the same time I have no truck with those who deny the Palestinians a voice and a say in their future. To hear a Jewish citizen on the news this week declaring that Israel has a divine right to the whole land because it was promised to Abraham in their scriptures, to me represents biblical fundamentalism at its very worst. We need to pray for this volatile part of the world, for so long ravaged by hatred, mistrust and intolerance. There is already too much bloodshed in the region; without genuine dialogue and a willingness to explore peaceful coexistence, there can only be more. Here, then, is a prayer for justice and peace in the Middle East adapted from my recent book Intercessions for a Hurting World, asking that somehow harmony may be found in place of division and war.
Lord of all,
hear our prayer for the Middle East,
still racked today by so much tension and hatred.
We pray especially today for the peoples of Palestine and Israel,
and of other nations surrounding these,
each coexisting uneasily together.
Bring harmony.
Bring lasting peace.
We pray for victims in the region of intolerance,
violence,
oppression,
persecution.
Bring harmony.
Bring lasting peace.
We pray for an end to religious and political extremism,
to civil war and feuding,
to fear and suspicion,
to resorting to the bullet and bomb rather than constructive dialogue.
Bring harmony.
Bring lasting peace.
We pray for politicians and leaders in the area,
and for those in the wider world with influence upon it.
Help them to see beyond narrow religious and factional interest,
beyond long-held prejudice and traditional stereotypes,
and truly to seek a path towards respect,
reconciliation
and justice for all.
Bring harmony.
Bring lasting peace.
Amen.
I feel for the Palestinian people. 🙁
Very much so, Lesley