The General Postal Corporation (Q-Post) yesterday issued a postage stamp to express the solidarity of the people and government of Qatar with the Palestinians in Gaza Strip. The stamp, carrying the title ‘Qatar sheds tears for Gaza’, was unveiled by Q-Post’s Chairman and General Manager, Ali Mohammed Al Ali, along with officials from the corporation in an event held at Q-Post’s headquarters. A Qatari artist, Saeeda Abdulaziz Al Bader, painted the image on the stamp, which was designed by the Q-Post Philatelic Bureau. The printing was done in Singapore. Al Ali said the revenue from the sale of the stamp will be donated to Palestinians in Gaza. “The humanitarian gesture is the first in GCC and the entire Arab world. It has been produced in a record time of eight days. The objective is not only to raise funds, as the amount expected from the sales is only QR280,000. The endeavour was to raise the morale of the Palestinian people,” said Al Ali. Khalid Fikri, Director of Stamp Affairs Section, said the stamp and first day covers will be available to philatelists and other customers at all post offices in the country beginning tomorrow. The stamp bears a postage value of QR1. A total of 80,000 of the commemorative stamps, having a dimension of 30mm x 30mm, have been printed. Q-Post has issued only a limited number of 2,000 first day covers for philatelists for QR10 each. The stamp will be circulated in the 191 member states of the Universal Postal Union. The artist, Saeeda, is a graduate of the College of Fine Arts in Qatar University. Her painting was selected by Q-Post when it appeared in a local newspaper. She is the second woman whose art work has been reproduced by Q-post as a postal stamp after Hassa Al Muraikhi. Explaining the message of her painting, the artist said the damaged face of a woman in the image represents the occupied land of Palestine. The blood running from the eyes of the woman reflects the blood of those killed by the occupying force. http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=January2009&file=Local_News2009012134016.xml

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