By Thameen Kheetan
AMMAN - Many New Year parties in Jordan have been cancelled over the past two days in a show of mourning as well as solidarity with people in the Gaza Strip.
Hotels, cafés, restaurants, malls as well as Jordanian families advertised in newspapers announcing the cancellation of planned celebrations, voicing support for people in the enclave where more than 370 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,700 wounded in continued Israeli bombardment since Saturday of the besieged coastal strip.
The manager of two concerts featuring one Tunisian and three Lebanese artists said both celebrations were cancelled due to the tragic situation in the strip. One was supposed to have renowned Lebanese singers Melhem Barakat and Roula Saad at the Le Royal hotel in Amman.
The concert was called off Monday before organisers decided to cancel another one at the Holiday Inn featuring Lebanese May Hariri and Tunisian Ahmad Sharif.
"The hotel administration decided to cancel the party, then Barakat and Roula Saad agreed and asked for no compensation," organiser Elias Nehme told The Jordan Times yesterday.
Hariri and Sharif's show was on till yesterday afternoon with the proceeds planned to go as aid for the war-stricken strip, he said, explaining that the final decision to cancel was taken later because "it's a shame to have a party while people [in Gaza] are dying".
Assistant Director General of Le Royal Susan Jaber said all preparations stopped as soon as the cancellation decision was taken. These include printing and distributing brochures, newspaper advertisements and having equipment in place for Barakat's show and several other functions planned at the hotel.
"We did not think about losses, but about what is happening in Gaza," she noted.
Officials at the Days Inn hotel in Aqaba, which on Sunday announced the cancellation of New Year’s festivities, estimated losses at thousands, but said they have no regrets.
"When you have a wedding and your neighbour is mourning, you should feel with him and cancel your celebration," front office and reservation manager Saqer Tawalbeh told The Jordan Times.
Other parties and forms of festivities were also cancelled, including those at three Mövenpick resorts in the Kingdom, the Nabataean Castle hotel in Petra, Al Istiklal mall and Tony Roma's café in Amman.
Security was also taken into consideration, said Dead Sea Mövenpick’s food and beverages manager Hala Jaradat.
Jordanian singers Hani Metwassi and Miteb Saqqar also announced the cancellation of their new year's concerts "in solidarity with people in Gaza".
Meanwhile, Jordanian families and tribes that had planned hotel parties announced that they would not be celebrating tonight for the same reason. The Sahawneh and Ammari families announced the cancellation in advertisements in yesterday's newspapers. They wished that the "souls of martyrs rest in peace", condemning the "criminal Israeli aggression" against Gazans.
"It is impossible to have a party while the blood of five young girls has not dried yet," Hikmat Sahawneh told The Jordan Times over the phone from Mafraq.
People's "solidarity" with the Gazans has also spread to home parties in Jordan.
"My parents do not want to celebrate due to the situation in Gaza," university student Hazar Krishan, who lives in Amman, told The Jordan Times, adding that the family usually goes out or has a "big" new year party at home.
A group of young people will celebrate, but in a different spirit. They plan to stage a vigil for the Gaza victims, according to the web-based Ammon News Agency.
"As the world celebrates the new year, for the people of Gaza, the new year starts with bombs, fire and blood. Let our celebration be in solidarity with them," the agency quoted the youngsters as saying, without naming them.
