RIYADH, 15 April — A three-day telethon raised SR600 million ($160 million) for the Palestinian intifada, as both Saudis and expatriates lined up their full resources in a massive show of support for their Arab brothers.
The fund-raising campaign, held live on Saudi Television, collected SR410.36 million ($110 million) in cash and up to SR200 million ($53.3 million) in kind by its end early yesterday.
Following the example of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd, who donated SR20 million ($5.3 million), people gave away hundreds of kilograms of gold and jewelry, land worth tens of millions of riyals and cars, including many Rolls Royces.
Information Minister Dr. Fouad Al-Farsy expressed happiness over the success of the fund-raiser, adding that Saudis and expatriates in all parts of the Kingdom had taken part in the campaign. Local hospitals donated medicine and pledged to treat Palestinians injured in the large-scale military offensive launched by Israeli forces in the West Bank on March 29.
Organizers, who said all material donations would be sold in auction, described the response as “unprecedented in the history of the Kingdom.”
The telethon was organized by the Committee to Support the Al-Quds Intifada, headed by Interior Minister Prince Naif, which had already collected $67 million since the Palestinian uprising began 18 months ago.
The response to calls for aid was overwhelming, attracting not only members of the royal family, businessmen and scholars, but women, children, and even poorly paid domestic helps.
Many people called in to say they were willing to donate a kidney, while two newly-wed men led a rush of people wishing to become organ donors.
A large number of private and government establishments, including all national banks, offered one day’s pay of their employees. Scholars appealed to the people to donate generously to help the Palestinian brethren.
The Saudi committee said people could still deposit their donations in the joint account No. 90 opened by it in all national banks.
Elsewhere in the Gulf, the United Arab Emirates has launched a weeklong “For You, Palestine” campaign expected to reap millions of dollars on top of the $86 million already raised.
Sheikh Hamdan ibn Zayed Al-Nahyan, Emirati minister of state for foreign affairs and chairman of the Emirati Red Crescent Society, said yesterday that the UAE will play a leading role in the reconstruction of the Jenin refugee camp, destroyed in the current military offensive.
Neighboring Qatar has also raised some $10 million, while Oman launched a fund-raising campaign on Saturday.
Benefactors in Manama, where a telethon raised $11.5 million by its close Saturday, included two Bahraini Jewish businessmen who donated $15,000, organizer Jamal Fakhro said.
Dawood Ibrahim Nonoo, head of a financial company, gifted $10,000 and Robin Ibrahim Robin, owner of a large electronics shop, gave $5,000.
“This gesture shows a great sense of responsibility by Bahrain’s Jewish community and the unity of our society,” Fakhro said.
The Nonoo and Robin families are leaders in Bahrain’s small Jewish community that numbers around 250 people. The small island of just 650,000 people has been rocked by a series of anti-Israeli protests.
Kuwait, which regularly sends food aid to support 1,000 families in the West Bank town of Hebron and has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars through several campaigns, will launch a telethon today.
Under the orders of Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the television fund-raiser will begin at 0700 GMT and continue until 2100 GMT, said Al-Qabas newspaper.
