Post #124996 by DawnTiki on Thu, Nov 11, 2004 1:09 PM

Yasser & Arafat alive and well

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - When Safra Hassan went into labor Thursday, she told her husband she wanted to name their child Yasser after Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who died hours earlier.

It was only in the delivery room at Gaza's Shifa Hospital that Hassan, 32, discovered she was carrying twin boys.

"I looked at my husband and I said, we will call them Yasser and Arafat," she told The Associated Press. "I'm so proud that the name of Yasser Arafat will be in my house every day, just as the name of Yasser Arafat will be in every Palestinian house forever."

The boys, each weighing about 4 1/2 pounds, are doing well, doctors said. Safra Hassan and her husband, Rafiq, have two other children, a 7-year-old daughter and a 5-year-old son.

Safra Hassan said naming her infants for Arafat was a small gesture compared to the sacrifices he made in pursuit of Palestinian statehood.

"I hope that my children will grow up in peace and will witness Yasser Arafat's dreams become reality," she said.