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| By: Associated Press |
| Published: August 20, 2006 |
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Many Palestinians are naming their newly born babies "Hizbullah" after the Lebanese militia group. Nahed Ghurani, a wealthy Gaza merchant, said he was proud that his new son would be called Hizbullah Ghurani. "My wife wanted to call the baby Nasrallah, but I wanted Hizbullah - to commemorate the entire resistance not only its leader," he said.
At least five other babies born in recent days at Gaza City's Shifa Hospital have been called Hizbullah, which means "Party of Allah."
Other babies are being named after the Hizbullah leader. In Shifa Hospital, at least six Palestinian women have named their babies Hassan, Nasrallah, or Hassan Nasrallah, according to maternity records since the fighting began last month.
In Gaza, as in many parts of the Arab and Muslim world, Nasrallah has seen his popularity rise dramatically by "defeating" Israel.
Ghurani said he also tried to change his 6-year-old son's name from Islam to Nasrallah, but "couldn't find the right papers."
"The next son - we'll call him Ahmadinejad," Ghurani said, in honor of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called for the complete annihilation of Israel.
During the Gulf war, many Palestinians named their children Saddam.
More than 120 babies born during the war have been named after Nasrallah in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, according to the official registrar there. |
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