DUBAI: The flood of donations rushes on — cash, jewels, cars and even kidneys given by Gulf Arabs to aid fellow Muslims abroad, disregarding US allegations about terrorist links to the charities they support.

Since the deadly attacks of September 11, Washington has pressed for strict scrutiny of Islamic charities that it says are used to channel funds to “terrorists” such as Osama bin Laden.

Many governments in the Gulf have responded with monitoring measures, but donors — many already angry at Washington’s support for Israel — have more faith in the charities than in the US accusations.

“America dares to call the Palestinians terrorists while they are defending their land. So how can we believe them when they say charities support terrorism?” said Hamed, a businessman from the United Arab Emirates who regularly contributes to Muslim causes.

“Those (charity workers) are honest people collecting money for the needy...I don’t think America knows anything about Islam or charity work,” he said.

Rulers and citizens of the oil-rich region donated tens of millions of dollars worth of cash and goods to the Palestinians after Israel stepped up its military campaign against the Palestinians last month.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar held telethons to collection donations that yielded around $100 million in just a few hours.

Men and women hurled cash and jewellery into charities’ boxes but a Saudi man and a UAE woman made pledges that would require special handling — each of them offering a kidney.

“Despite whatever America is saying, we trust our charities 100 per cent. There is no doubt that the donations go to poor people and needy Muslim countries”, another UAE national said.

Bankers said the region’s tax regimes and the amount of cash exchanged outside the banking system make it nearly impossible to monitor the movement of money.

“The United States can never be sure whether these funds are going to the hands of terrorists or for humanitarian causes,” a senior Omani banker said.

However, diplomats said new government monitoring has made a difference since Sept 11. “Since the attacks the charities have devised a form of self-control...charities are now more cautious to avoid suspicion,” a Western diplomat said.

Several charities, particularly in Gulf Arab states, have appeared on a US blacklist of suspected “terror” financiers.

At least two — Saudi Arabia’s al-Haramain Islamic Foundation and Kuwait’s Revival of Islamic Heritage Society — have denied the accusation.

Islamic charities have felt the heat before. In the mid 1990s, Egypt and Algeria repeatedly asked Gulf governments to monitor the activities of charities that they said were funding hardline Muslims, diplomats said.

But the stakes are higher now that the pressure is coming from the United States.

Saudi Arabia has ordered charities to coordinate overseas activity with the foreign ministry. Ali al-Joureiss, director of the Islamic Relief Association office in Riyadh, one of the biggest charities in the kingdom with foreign operations, said the group operated under “absolute transparency.”

More than 230 charities operate in the kingdom. They are all supervized by government agencies that appoint accountants and auditors to monitor their financial activities.

Officials said charities in Saudi Arabia have offices and representatives in some 55 countries and have in the past two decades contributed hundreds of millions of riyals in aid to Palestinians, Bosnians, Afghans and many others.

In October, Kuwait formed a state committee to control charity operations and end claims that some funds were being sent to radical groups.

“There is more coordination with the Foreign Ministry now when it comes to charity projects abroad, government monitoring is stronger than before,” said an official at the Kuwait-based Sheikh Abdullah al-Nouri Charity Association.—Reuters