RIYADH, 27 May — Last month a national telethon to raise money for the Palestinians was broadcast live by Saudi Arabian Television Channel 1. The Saudi and international press carried reports that spoke of the generosity of the Saudi people and the huge success of the campaign.
However, no paper followed up the story to question how much of the money collected actually reached the Palestinians. This left the whole project open to accusations that it was somehow hijacked by extremist groups.
To clarify this matter, Arab News contacted the Ministry of Information and Channel 1. It was far from an easy enterprise. Muhammad Al-Ameen, the campaign supervisor, told Arab News: “Send your questions by fax.”
With that, he slammed down the phone, without a thank you or a goodbye. The questions were duly sent by fax. No reply has thus far been received.
However, Arab News learned that the total amount Channel 1 received was SR419,030,413. The donations were deposited into a special account in the National Commercial Bank under the supervision of an appointed committee. Another committee took charge of selling the donations in kind, like gold and cars.
The committee consisted of the following government departments: The Ministries of Information and Interior, the Governorate of Riyadh, and the Saudi Committee for Supporting the Quds Intifada.
Each committee’s job was to supervise the separation of the donations into two categories: one to be shipped to Palestine in its present form, and the second those that had to be sold. An official report was made documenting everything that was shipped and sold, the amount realized from the sales and its deposit into the special NCB account.
The overall operation of depositing the money into the special account was supervised by Interior Minister Prince Naif.
Arab News was assured that donations were given directly to needy Palestinians without going through a middle man. The office of Mubarak Al-Biker, executive manager of the Saudi Committee for Supporting the Al-Quds Intifada, told Arab News that shortly after the campaign was finished a convoy of 100 trucks left Saudi Arabia for the occupied Palestinian territories. Al-Biker himself explained: “The coordination was organized through friends in Egypt and Jordan so that the foodstuff could be gotten into the Palestinian territories. At the moment, all goods are taken to the Palestinians through Israeli checkpoints.”
Dates were refused entry because the Israelis said that bullets could be smuggled inside them. And 15 truckloads of Al-Marai milk, donated by the company, were refused entry because “they said it did not meet international standards, even though Al-Marai milk conforms to the highest international standards and is recognized for its excellence.”
As for what has been said in some Western media outlets that the money gathered in the Saudi telethon campaign would support terrorist organizations to commit more bombings, Al-Biker replied: “The organizations the committee deals with in the Palestinian territories are official ones which are recognized by the Palestinian Authority.”
“We support the families of Palestinian martyrs, without differentiating between whether the Palestinian was a bomber or was killed by Israeli troops,” he added.
Arab News also had the chance to call the Ministry of Interior and spoke to Dr. Sa’ed Al-Harthi, adviser to Prince Naif and head of the Executive Committee for Supporting Al-Quds Intifada.
When asked about what has been said in some Western media outlets that the organizations that the committee deals with support terrorist attacks against Israelis, Al-Harthi said: “It’s not true. It’s completely false. The humanitarian relief to Palestinian families is done through banks in which the amount is deposited directly to the beneficiary’s account, without any third party getting involved.”
“Our support to the Palestinian people comes from a humanitarian perspective — just as we previously sent humanitarian relief to the people in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, and some African countries.”
“Israel is waging both military and political war. In its political war, it is blaming many parties — among them Saudi Arabia — because they support the Palestinians, “he added.
“We are against terrorism in Palestine. We do not support terrorism. Indeed, we condemn it. But we support the oppressed nation,” he concluded.
Arab News has been shown official documents of the deposits to the families of Palestinian martyrs.
The signatures, full name, and ID number of the recipients are clearly shown.
During the past one year and a half, the committee carried out successfully 13 programs in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
The Saudi Committee for Supporting Al-Quds Intifada undertakes 12 programs in the occupied territories.
