DOHA: Al Fakhoora, a satellite television channel broadcasting from Doha, has collected more than QR20m as part of a campaign led by students in Qatar to help the victims of the Gaza war.
"We have received funds of QR22.4m during the first four days of the campaign and hope much more will be collected by the end of this campaign," Emad Dahdr, student organiser, Al Fakhoora, told The Peninsula yesterday.
Al Fakhoora television is broadcasting six hours of programmes a day from Monday until 1 February as part of a campaign to help the victims of the Israeli offensive.
"The Al Fakhoora campaign was named in memory of a United Nations school destroyed on January 6 in the offensive," said Dahdr, who is a student at the Texas A&M University in Qatar.
Al Fakhoora television, which broadcasts via the Arabsat satellite, has launched an appeal to viewers for contributions to its mission. The money raised will be used to help rebuild schools in the Gaza Strip.
"We aim at promoting awareness on providing ample protection to educational institutions in the Gaza Strip and supporting the Reach Out to Asia (ROTA) organisation under the Qatar Foundation for the reconstruction of educational infrastructure in Gaza," said Dahdr.
The campaign was launched in December by students in Qatar under the patronage of H H Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned.
The Al Fakhoora programmes are devoted to the after-effects of three weeks of intensive bombardment by the Israeli army in the Palestinian territory.
"Every day, we focus on different issues. Several experts and high-profile professionals are interviewed," said Dahdr.
Destruction of education was highlighted on the first day, inhabitants of Gaza gave accounts of the attacks on the second day, and the physiological effects were discussed by experts yesterday.
"All will help Gaza is the theme for Friday, and on Saturday, the last day of the campaign, people will be able to donate money to the Gaza victims directly by making a telephone call to the channel while the programme is on air," said Dahdr.
FAZEENA SALEEM
© The Peninsula 2009
