CPTnet
5 February 2008
HEBRON/AT-TUWANI: Ash Wednesday and fasting resources for “Way of the Cross, in Occupied Palestine”

During Ash Wednesday services, consider including the following prayer:

“Creator God, the Parent of all people, we remember on this day of mourning all those suffering from injustice, war, and military occupation. We remember especially those living under military occupation in Palestine. We repent and mourn of the ways in which our government has participated in or complied with this occupation. May these ashes remind us of trees in Palestine that have become ashes – trees on Palestinian land that Israeli settlers have set on fire.

For an image to incorporate into Ash Wednesday worship, see Palestinian land burned by Israeli settlers in Tel Rumeida August 2005: <http://www.cpt.org/gallery/album235/05_08_Burned_land_in_Tel_Rumeida>

FASTING
When prayerfully considering a fast to participate in this campaign, consider Isaiah 58:6: “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?”
The CPT Palestine team asks supporters to consider participating in the “Way of the Cross” fast in the following manners

• Fast proactively. CPT Palestine urges that, every Friday during Lent (Fridays being traditional Christian fast days, particularly through Lent), supporters commit to writing letters or make phone calls to end the support of Israeli occupation of Palestine. As a Lenten discipline, on Fridays write or call government officials, write letters to the editors of newspapers, etc.
• Fast from mainstream media. Choose a day every week (or 40 days!) and commit to reading Arab news sources: Al Jazeera<http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/55ABE840-AC30-41D2-BDC9-06BBE2A36665.htm>, Maan <http://www.maannews.net/en/>, International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC) <http://www.imemc.org/>, Palestine News Network (PNN) <http://english.pnn.ps>, etc. to hear a perspective different from that often portrayed by mainstream Western media.
• Fast from food. Choose to fast a meal a week, fast from desserts, fast from sunup to sundown, or some other type of fast. Use this fast as a reminder to pray for an end to the occupation and reflect on the suffering experienced by Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation.

Other fasting ideas, which some CPT Palestine members are prayerfully considering:

• Fast Thursday and Friday. These are traditional fast days for Muslims and Christians, respectively. Break the fast by participating in a Jewish Sabbath meal and/or ceremony. Such fasting would be a symbolic statement and prayer for peace between the three People of the Book: Muslims, Jews, and Christians.
• Fast Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday – Mondays and Thursdays are traditional fast days for Muslims, and Wednesday and Fridays are traditional fast days for Christians.
• Fast from unproductive, sarcastic, unloving critical remarks about personal and corporate/structural (governments, armies, etc.) enemies.

• Participate in disciplined advocacy on behalf of the end to the occupation of Palestine.