Resounding success for Dubai Telethon

A telethon led by the Dubai Television and involving other Arab and local television stations was held yesterday in support of the Palestinian people. The event started at 3.30pm yesterday and lasted until 2 am today and raised more than Dh115 million.

The fundraising campaign under the slogan "We Are All for Palestine" was organised by the Emirates Committee for Relief of the Palestinian People (ECRPP) in keeping with directives of General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Minister of Defence.

The campaign was led by His Highness Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, who donated Dh30 million. Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance and Industry, offered Dh20 million.

Sheikh Mohammed opened the campaign by donating Dh20 million. Sheikh Mohammed directed that the ECRPP open a permanent office in Palestine to coordinate reconstruction of infrastructure destroyed by the Israeli military machine, said Ibrahim Bu Melha, Dubai Attorney General and Deputy Chairman of the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Humanitarian and Charity Foundation.

The campaign, he said, is aimed at rescuing unarmed Palestinians who are subject to a vicious genocide by Israeli.

He added that the campaign, which will last for two months, involves all local and foreign, popular and charity organisations.

Businessmen, charity organisations and philanthropists of different nationalities and ages rushed to offer financial support to the Palestinians. Dubai Municipality donated Dh5 million.

The Ajman Charity Organisation donated Dh6 million and sponsored 1,000 Palestinian families. Mohammed Juma Al Naboodah, Abdullah Al Ghurair and Hassan Abu Alazzouz, prominent local businessmen, donated Dh 1 million each.

A female philanthropist donated a Rolls Royce car which was auctioned through the telethon. Another woman donated her wedding jewellery. Until 8 pm yesterday, around 2.5 kilograms of jewellery was donated.

Bu Melha said that urgent relief assistance will be provided to the Palestinians in the coming period while projects need to be implemented there will be studied later.

More than 16,000 Palestinian families have received financial assistance from the ECRPP. Over 32,000 families are in bad need of urgent assistance, said Abdul Rahman bin Sobih, head of the ECRPP foreign assistance committee.

The television stations dedicated air-time to broadcast images of the Israeli atrocities taking place in the West Bank and interviews with officials and media.

The Israeli onslaught against the Palestinians makes it mandatory for the Arab and Muslim peoples to show solidarity with their brothers in Palestine, said Sultan Abu Saleim, Palestine's Consul General in Dubai.

"Losses by the Palestinians due to the ongoing attacks by Israel reached $8 billion." Abu Saleim reiterated that "unarmed Palestinians will not give in and they will continue struggle until they restore their usurped rights.