Mission to Gaza

• ISLINGTON Friends of Yibna [IFY] is very grateful to Jeremy Corbyn, MP for Islington North, for his visit to besieged Gaza earlier this month.
During his visit Jeremy handed over two  cameras, a gift from IFY. Nawal Al Hourani, a paediatric nurse at a UN health centre in Yibna, accepted the cameras on behalf of artists from Yibna. The camera has already been put to great use and IFY has received dozens of amazing photos of artwork.
Some of the artwork, which is exhibited at Rafah Municipality (Yibna is a refugee camp in Rafah), depicts the harsh reality of living under siege and bombardment. Other works express beauty and hope, which Palestinians are denied by the Israeli occupation.
Jeremy’s visit to Gaza was by no means certain. Against all the odds 60 European parliamentarians were able to visit. Initially, only a handful were scheduled to travel to Gaza via Egypt, as Israel persistently prevents such visits.  
On December 29, after a long wait in the cold with members of IFY and many others, Jeremy was invited into the Egyptian Embassy, together with two others. They obtained assurances of passage into Gaza. However, on January 8, the Egyptian authorities reneged on this promise.
Instead of giving up, the organisers mobilised dozens of other MPs and in less than a week the unprecedentedly large delegation was on its way to Gaza.
IFY thanks Jeremy  for tabling Early Day Motion 502, which opposes the attempt to change British law to shield Israelis from facing war crimes charges. This came about after a British judge found sufficient evidence against Tzipi Livni to issue an arrest warrant for war crimes. The evidence was over her role in the Israeli onslaught on Gaza a year ago. Eighty-three MPs have already signed EDM 502, which was tabled on December 15. IFY hopes it won’t be long before Emily Thornberry, MP for Islington South, signs it.
YAEL KAHN
Chair, Islington Friends of Yibna