JEDDAH, 13 April — In an unprecedented show of support for the Palestinian uprising, the people of Saudi Arabia donated nearly SR350 million ($93.3 million) by midnight yesterday responding to a marathon telvision campaign organized by the Saudi Committee for the Support of Al-Quds Intifada. The donations in kind were estimated at more than SR100 million, bringing the total to SR450 million ($120 million).
Organizers expect the donations to cross SR1 billion by the time the fund-raising closes tonight.
Saudis and expatriates donated a record SR430 million ($114 million) in just 13 hours on the first day of the campaign. The amount included donations in kind worth SR100 million.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd had directed the authorities to extend the campaign, which started at 4 p.m. on Thursday, by two days.
The biggest single donation — SR100 million ($27 million) in cash and kind — came from Prince Alwaleed ibn Talal. An unnamed donor pledged $11 million.
King Fahd on Sunday ordered urgent medical and food relief supplies to the Palestinians, and Prince Naif, who heads the committee, sent some $800,000 to the families of 155 Palestinians who were killed in the latest Israeli offensive on the West Bank towns.
Saudi Arabia transferred $15.4 million in advance aid to the Palestinian Authority on Tuesday. Several convoys of Saudi food and medical assistance are set to arrive in Amman shortly on way to the Palestinian territories.
The imam of the Grand Mosque in Makkah yesterday urged the world’s 1.2 billion Muslims to extend all-out support for the Palestinians and said the Palestinian cause was a big test for their faith and strength.
“Muslims should achieve unity on the basis of the Islamic faith and religion. Islam is the greatest unifying force,” Dr. Saud Al-Shuraim said, addressing the faithful who had thronged the mosque for the Juma prayer.
“The Palestinian cause is a test for Muslims’ strength and their zeal to defend the religion, countries and their sacred places,” the imam said. “The victory of Muslims does not depend on the strength or weakness of their enemies, but on the unity of their faith and their collective stand. It’s not the smallness or largeness of their number that matters, but their faith and unity.”
In his sermon, Sheikh Abdul Mohsen Al-Qasim, the imam of the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah, described Israel as the No. 1 enemy of Muslims, and said the Jews had always conspired against Muslims.
He said Muslims should extend all possible support for their Palestinian brethren languishing under the Israeli oppression, praying God for their victory and providing financial assistance.
In Geneva, a Saudi official yesterday strongly denounced the flagrant human rights violations by Israeli occupation forces in the Palestinian territories.
Addressing a conference of UN Commission for Human Rights, Prince Turki ibn Muhammad ibn Saud Al-Kabir, assistant deputy foreign minister for political affairs, warned that the Jewish state’s oppressive policies were endangering world peace and security. He invited the world attention to the ongoing Israeli atrocities against unarmed Palestinians.
Prince Turki also noted Saudi Arabia’s efforts to protect human rights by introducing reforms.
He pointed out that the Kingdom had extended $76 billion in foreign aid over the past 20 years — at the rate of $3.7 billion annually, or four percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
