#LetUsThrough campaign reaches Times Square

The image of crowds of Palestinians lining up for UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) food parcels, which has emerged as an icon of the Syria conflict, is to be displayed simultaneously on the electronic billboard in New York’s Times Square and Tokyo’s Shibuya district.

The campaign image will appear on the billboards at 7.30pm and 8.30pm on Thursday evening, when locals intend to hold a silent vigil in Times Square for the Palestinians of Yarmouk and all civilians in Syria.

“There’s a pointed symbolism about this icon appearing on two world famous billboards simultaneously at either ends of the globe”, said Chris Gunness, UNRWA Spokesperson. “The image has come to sum up the feelings of all us, expressing the groundswell of international revulsion at the tragic suffering that this pitiless conflict has perpetrated against Palestinians and all civilians in Syria.”

The UNRWA campaign, called #LetUsThrough, was backed by the UK-based HOPING Foundation, which secured support for a joint UNRWA-HOPING statement backed by 30 celebrities and figures from the world of arts and entertainment last week.

HOPING co-founder Bella Freud said the aim was “to raise immediate attention to the shocking situation of Palestinians and other civilians besieged and being starved to death in Syria. Palestinians have been made refugees so many times and their plight matters deeply to all of us.”

The joint statement demanded that “people and relief must be let through” to besieged areas. “We want our voices to carry, on behalf of those now suffering in Syria, in order to prevent any more tragedy”.