Hitler, Saddam – Palestinians cope with loaded names

HEBRON: Hitler, Castro and Saddam Hussein meet in a bar. It may sound like the beginning of a joke, but in the Palestinian territories it is actually possible.

Palestinians often name their children after celebrities, national heroes or backers of their cause.

But from time to time, they pick far more controversial names and their children have to live with the consequences.

Hitler Abu Hamad (pic) is not proud to carry the name of a man responsible for the slaughter of millions.

“There is no relationship between my name and the actions of Adolf Hitler,” he said at his home in the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank.

“I hate what he did. I am against killing, violence and human rights abuses, but I got used to my name and it is part of my character.”

How the quiet and polite schoolteacher, 41, came to be named after the most hated man of the 20th century says a lot about Israel and the Palestinians.

Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967 in a move never recognised by the international community. Jewish settlers moved into the territory and the occupation continues.

When Hitler was born in 1976, his father wanted to send a message, though in perhaps the most offensive way possible: picking the name of the man who systematically murdered six million Jews.

“My father was a simple man who made mistakes. He wanted to make the occupation think with my name,” said Hitler.

The father of two studied English literature and is a deputy head at a school, while also teaching adults.

His name is “weird for the kids at school”, he said, adding that it causes him endless problems at Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank.

When he was 15, an army officer asked him his name. When he told him, the soldier flew off the handle.

“He called me a criminal,” Hitler said, claiming that he was then beaten by soldiers, leaving him with a broken nose still bent out of shape.

He believes the name also stopped Israelis from giving him permits to study or work outside the Palestinian territories.

Many Palestinians have named children after their longtime leader Yasser Arafat, while other names heard include Castro, Guevara and Chavez – after the Latin American figures who supported their cause.

In Hebron, there is a Carter Abu Isneyna, named after former US president Jimmy Carter, who tried to get Israel to end the occupation and led the Camp David peace talks between Israel and Egypt.

Qais Hussein Omar was born in 1976 under a different name – Saddam Hussein.

He alleges he was regularly harassed at checkpoints by Israeli soldiers angered by his name, and was once hospitalised by a particularly brutal beating.

In other countries, too, he faced issues and it all affected his health, so seven years ago he changed it. — AFP