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Tens of millions of Christians around the world joined their voices in prayer on October 2, calling on the Creator of heaven and earth to send His peace to Jerusalem, the capital of Israel.

According to the United States-based leadership behind the second annual “International Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem,” Bible believers in churches and meetings across the globe focused their thoughts and prayers on the ancient metropolis whose name in Hebrew means “City of Peace.”

Their prayers were for God’s Messiah, the Prince of Peace, to come and set up His kingdom in the City of David, from where—according to the Bible—He will rule and reign over the nations of the world, finally bringing peace to mankind.

The Christians’ petitions come just weeks after an unprecedented number of Israeli Jews gathered in Jerusalem to cry out for God’s intervention against efforts to wrest their land from them and drive their country closer to war and annihilation.

Those prayers against the implementation of the Sharon government’s “disengagement” plan appeared to go unheard when, despite them, the expulsion of thousands of Jews from their homes in Gaza and northern Samaria went ahead.

But although saddened by these heartrending events, Bible-believing Jews and Christians are not shaken in their faith in the Lord God of Israel, and in His promises to this land and its people.

And while no direct or acknowledged link exists between the August 10 mass prayer gathering at Jerusalem’s Western Wall and the October 2nd internationally coordinated prayer meeting, both occasions see Jews and Christians joining together in their appeals to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob on behalf of Israel and Jerusalem.

Despite the still differing concepts of who the Messiah is, both these “People of the Book” share the conviction that a Righteous One will come and deliver Israel out of the hands of her enemies.

According to the Bible, all who worship and want to obey God are commanded by Him (Psalm 122:6) to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

The injunction to “not keep silent” and to “give God no rest till He establishes and till He makes Jerusalem a praise in all the earth” is directed to all those who make mention of the Lord (Isaiah 62:6-7).

Ironically, despite its name–or perhaps because of it–this city is more thought off in terms of war than peace; is more a curse than a praise in the earth.

Jerusalem has known neither peace nor prosperity for nearly 3,000 years; not since King Solomon sat enthroned here.

The founder of the International Forum for a United Jerusalem, the late Eliyahu Tal, says the city has “known more sieges and battles than any other city in history.”

While records show that Jerusalem has undergone 37 conquests, it has in fact “changed hands 86 times, including many minor conquests, in its long and turbulent history.”

The Bible–a book of writings that, more than any other, has stood the test of time, and whose millennia-old prophecies concerning Israel have all come to pass–foretells that the yearned-for peace of Jerusalem will be realized one day.

For millions of Christians from East to West and North to South, their prayers on October 2 were for the hastening of that day.

The International Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem is an initiative of the US-based Eagles Wings Ministries under the leadership of Robert Stearns. The internationally renowned Pastor Jack Hayford of San Francisco’s Church on the Way co-chairs the initiative with Stearns.

For more information about the day of prayer see their Web site at www.daytopray.com.

(Excerpted from an article by Stan Goodenough, Jerusalem Newswire, www.jnewswire.com)

PRAYER FOCUS
Pray that God will put a prayer burden on the hearts of Christians everywhere to pray for Israel, and that this will not be a once a year occurrence.

SCRIPTURE
“I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give Him no rest till He establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth” (Isaiah 62:6-7).

www.bridgesforpeace.com

JERUSALEM—After declaring Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip a victory for their “resistance operations,” Hamas is now planning to focus attacks on the West Bank, where it will fire rockets and carry out guerrilla operations against nearby Jewish towns until Israel leaves the territory, a research center affiliated with Hamas announced in a published study.

“[Hamas will be] transporting warfare technologies such as mortars and rockets from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank. These will provide an easy way to bombard Israeli populated areas adjacent to the security fence, and the fence, which is currently under construction, will therefore become useless,” stated a recent publication by the Al-Mustaqbal Research Center in Gaza.

Al-Mustaqbal is headed by a Palestinian professor and, according to the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at Israel’s Center for Special Studies, is associated with Hamas and is known to publish surveys and studies that reflect the terror group’s attitudes.

The study credited Israel’s West Bank security barrier with limiting Hamas’s ability to infiltrate Jewish cities to perpetuate suicide bombings, but it said, “Carrying out such acts remains an option since Hamas will find methods to circumvent the obstacle built by Israel. The length of the fence and its proximity to populated areas will make the task easier.”

Al-Mustaqbal said Israel’s withdrawal in August from four West Bank towns provides Hamas and other terror groups with a staging ground from which to launch attacks and to transport rockets to other West Bank communities. It said the Gaza and West Bank withdrawals prove Israel will vacate other areas in response to repeated attacks.

“[Following Israel's withdrawal] the new warfare technology [of Qassams and mortars] will be produced, and from there, they will be distributed to other West Bank areas,” said the study.

Along with rocket fire at West Bank Jewish communities, Hamas will carry out guerrilla attacks against local residents and Israeli Defense Forces positions, the study stated, citing what it said was Hezbollah’s success in using such attacks to drive Israel from Lebanon in 2000.

“The fighting in the West Bank in the new era [after Israel's Gaza withdrawal] will be characterized by guerrilla actions carried out by small groups of terrorists as was done in south Lebanon, and by long-distance shooting as was done in the Gaza Strip during the lull in the fighting. These actions will focus on soldiers and settlers, and they will consist of attacks on roads, military bases and settlements,” al-Mustaqbal published.

Israel last week rounded up over 450 suspected Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists in the West Bank, and has been warning that the terror groups are planning to step up operations in the area.

A senior security source told World Net Daily: “The terror groups will now attempt to step up attacks because they believe they can drive Israel from the rest of the West Bank. Al Aqsa and Islamic Jihad have recently been the dominant players [in the West Bank], but signs are Hamas is poised to catch up.”

Since Israel withdrew its troops from Gaza last month, Palestinian terrorists have fired over 30 mortars and rockets at nearby Israeli Negev towns. So far, there has been no rocket fire in the West Bank.

(By Aaron Klein, World Net Daily, www.worldnetdaily.com, October 6, 2005)

PRAYER FOCUS
We can see the handwriting on the wall. The struggle is far from over. Those who believe peace is imminent are like ostriches with their head in the sand. Without a doubt, difficult days are ahead for Israel. Pray that God will strengthen and uphold her. Pray that the people will not lose heart, but will turn to the Almighty.

SCRIPTURE
“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord” (Psalm 27:14).

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About 40 Palestinian policemen broke into the Palestinian parliament building in Gaza City on October 3, firing in the air to protest what they said was the humiliation police are facing because of attacks by Hamas militants.

The storming came one day after fierce clashes between police and Hamas in Gaza City and the nearby Shati refugee camp, during which Hamas gunmen attacked the local police station with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. The camp’s deputy police chief, Ali Makawi, was killed in the fighting.

Israel Radio reported that the police involved in the incident are members of Makawi’s unit.

The police stormed a meeting of Palestinian legislators, convened for the purpose of discussing the state of Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei’s (Abu Ala) government. They voted October 3 that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) must form a new government within two weeks.

The proposal, presented by the parliament speaker, was adopted by a vote of 43-5. The legislators largely endorsed a parliamentary committee’s report criticizing Qurei’s cabinet for its handling of factional anarchy. However, they stopped short of a no-confidence vote.

“I call on the Palestinian people to go out into the streets to demonstrate both against the Palestinian Authority and against the factions,” said legislator Freih Abu Medein from Abbas’ ruling Fatah party.

The protesting officers did not enter the chamber in which the meeting was taking place. They were promptly removed from the parliament and continued to shoot in the air outside the building.

“Yesterday, we did not have enough bullets,” said one of the protesting policemen. “We had nothing to protect ourselves. Give us as least bullets to protect people and to protect our stations,” he said. “Our commander died in front of us, and we were running out of bullets.”

“We want the PA to take a stand on Hamas. Our blood is flowing for the Authority and they are not doing anything,” one officer dressed in black told Reuters.

Abbas said October 3 that his security forces would not gloss over the confrontations with Hamas. “We will not remain silent in the face of this,” he told reporters at his Gaza City office. “This mob behavior, this chaos must end.” The authority, he said, is “ready to use all means to prevent the public display of arms,” which it banned several days ago.

A United States State Department spokesman supported Abbas’s attempt to crack down on the militants. “We have welcomed recent steps by President Abbas to implement a strategy that outlaws the public display of arms…end violence and dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

The clashes raged for about six hours, and subsided only around midnight on October 2, after Egyptian mediators stepped in. It was the fiercest internal fighting since 1996, when the PA clamped down on Hamas and carried out mass arrests, in response to a series of suicide bombings in Israel.

On October 3, each side was heard blaming the other for the fighting.

The Palestinian Interior Ministry, in charge of the security forces, said the fighting started with an argument between two men waiting in a long line at a cash machine outside a Gaza City bank. One of the men called in Hamas gunmen for support, police rushed to the scene and a gunfight erupted, the Interior Ministry said.

Hamas said the confrontation began when police tried to arrest Mohammed Rantisi, a Hamas activist and son of Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi, who was killed in a targeted Israeli missile strike on his car in 2004. Hamas claimed Mohammed Rantisi was unarmed.

The confrontation sparked gun battles all over the Sheikh Redwan neighborhood between Hamas operatives and policemen, with armed Fatah operatives joining in on the side of the police.

Later, the battle spread to Shati refugee camp west of Gaza, which, according to police sources, a policeman was killed. Hamas operatives also torched the Shati police station and several cars belonging to the Palestinian police.

Abbas said on October 3 that his security forces would not gloss over the clashes on October 2. “We will not remain silent in the face of this,” he told reporters at his office in Gaza. “This mob behavior, this chaos must end.”

Police beefed up security around police stations and sealed off access roads on October 3, causing massive traffic jams in already congested Gaza City.

Israeli officials said they were encouraged by the PA’s show of force, but that it was too early to judge whether this is the beginning of a crackdown on Hamas. “We can’t say after this isolated incident whether the real battle has begun,” said Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Dan Halutz.

Tension between Hamas and the Palestinian police has risen steadily over the past four days, due to the PA’s declaration that it will no longer allow arms to be carried in the streets. Hamas promptly announced that it had no intention of abiding by this order, and its leaders even accused the PA of trying to liquidate the organization.

On October 2, a senior Hamas official living in Damascus, Mohammed Nazel, reiterated this charge and threatened civil war in response. “There is a faction of the PA that is trying to eradicate the Hamas movement and plans a widespread conflict in the West Bank,” Nazel said. “The hands of this faction, which is backed by Washington and London, are stained with Palestinian blood, and Hamas will confront it, even at the price of civil war.”

(By Arnon Regular, Haaretz, www.haaretz.com, October 4, 2005)

PRAYER FOCUS
Pray that God will show His power and love in this region. The Palestinians fight among themselves, as they strive to gain a place in their society. Pray that God will move in individual hearts showing them that earthly answers to their heart cries will not bring the desired results, only surrender to God and His plans brings true fulfillment.

SCRIPTURE
“‘Not by might nor by power but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty” (Zechariah 4:6b).