'NY mosque won't take funds from Hamas, Iran'

The main developer of the controversial 'Ground Zero' mosque that has sharply divided New Yorkers, has said the centre is not inviting funds from Iran, Hamas or any organisation that has "un-American" values.

The planners began raising funds for the proposed project amid sharp divisions over it across the country. Sharif El Gamal, the developer of the proposed Islamic Centre that would stand two blocks away from the site of the fallen twin towers of the World Trade Centre, has collected US $ 10,000 for the US $ 100 million community centre project called Park 51 from a Muslim congregation of worshippers.

"We will not take money from Iran. We will not take money from Hamas," El Gamal told CBS's 60 Minutes. "We will not take money from organisations that have un-American values. The money is going to be coming from people that want to get involved in the project," he added. "And I think it's gonna come from people from all walks of life," he said.

The debate, however still rages, with a section of people arguing that establishing a mosque so close to the World Trade Centre site would be insensitive. Polls suggest that majority of Americans inside and out of New York, both Republican and Democrats, are against a mosque two blocks away from the 9/11 site.

Prominent Republicans like Sarah Palin, Rudy Giuliani, and Newt Gingrich have already spoken out against the mosque as have Democrats like Senate majority leader Harry Reid. But Daisy Khan, co-developer of the mosque along with her husband Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, has compared theopposition to anti-Semitism. She said the reaction is "like a metastasised anti-Semitism. It's not even Islamophobia. It's beyond Islamophobia," she said, on ABC's This Week. "It's hate of Muslims".

President Barack Obama, had earlier this month come out in support of religious freedom enshrined in the constitution, as he said Muslims had the right to practise their religion. "Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country," Obama said. "This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable".

Obama, however, later clarified that his remarks only related to the rights of the American-Muslims but did not address whether the mosque should be built on disputed site. "I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making a decision to put a mosque there," he said.