In a three-day TV marathon, Saudi Arabian citizens donated £70 million including expensive cars and gold jewellery to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. The fund-raising was conducted with the approval of the Saudi royal family and government. King Faud reiterated Saudi Arabia's support for the Palestinian 'martyrs' and pledged £2 million himself... One man donated a car 'so a Palestinian fighter can use it to blow up a military barracks and kill soldiers.'
Similar TV appeals in other gulf states have had similar success: in Abu Dhabi, £34 million was raised, in Bahrain £7 million, in Dubai and Qatar, £24 million and £6 million respectively. Estimates are of a grand regional total of more than £150 million.