A female child gives a nominal sum for the organizers.

By Ahmed Fathi, IOL Correspondent

CAIRO, May 6, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) - An ambitious campaign launched by the Arab Doctors Union in Cairo Friday, May 5, to raise one billion euros for the Palestinian people has whetted the appetite of Egyptians, who raced to make generous donations.

In just a couple of hours, the "Palestine Will Never Die" campaign got donations worth LE7 million ($1.2 million) from Egyptians of different cross-sections and age groups.

A young girl donated LE10,000 ($1,800) and her brother came up with LE1,000 ($180).

Stunning the participants, a young lady went on the stage just to offer her engagement ring for the Palestinians as a small toke for their sacrifices.

Many female attendees followed suit and give away their jewelry.

Men were in no way less generous than women as a young man has put up his 80-meter flat for sale and allocated the highest offer to the campaign.

The organizers are planning similar campaigns across the Arab world as part of grassroots efforts to stave off a humanitarian crisis in the occupied territories.

The Palestinians are facing serious shortages of food and medicine after the United States and the European Union suspended in March direct aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian government.

Israel has further since February stopped transferring customs duties worth around $50 million a month and previously collected for the PA.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees warned on Friday, May 5, that a humanitarian crisis was now "on our doorstep" in the Gaza Strip due to the aid freeze.

Auction

The organizers further held an auction on the sidelines of the campaign launching ceremony to selling some belongings of Palestinian martyrs, which were donated by their families in support for the Palestinian people in their financial crunch.

A watch of a female martyr was sold at $11,000, while a leather bag of another was estimated at $5,000.

In one of the moving scenes, a five-year-old girl went with her money box to raise funds on her own.

Jailed Egyptian opposition leader Ayman Nour also offered $3,000, telling the Palestinians through a close friend that his jail term would not ban him from supporting them.

Campaign coordinator Ibrahim El-Zaafarani unveiled a series of initiatives to help break the international blockade on the Palestinians and raise funds for them.

"Several Palestinian musical troupes will visit Cairo soon to throw support-Palestine parties," he said.

"Palestinian businessmen will also market traditional Palestinian products such as olive oil at a Cairo exhibition," he added.

Around 160,000 civil servants and security officers have not been paid since March, affecting the livelihoods of around one million people or a quarter of the population of the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

The Arab League has been examining a mechanism to pay salaries individually to each of the PA's employees.

The $70 million received so far by the pan-Arab body from its member states, however, falls far short of the estimated $240 million needed to cover salaries for March and April. The sum is currently in the hands of Banque du Caire.