Dubai Ruler orders cancellation of all New Year celebrations

Expats up in arms over decision to cancel New Years celebrations... The decision was made days after Muslims celebrated their New Year. I understand the reasons behind the decision but think it lacks 'vision' at all levels. Parties and events take months to organise and will effect the local economy and tourism drastically. Yet another bad decision from the Government...

Thanks very much for your post. Yes the ban would affect the scores of bars and restaurants planning pricey New Year's Eve events. A bad beginning of the new year for these people. 

Thanks for this.  I like Dubai.  Beautiful place.

I appreciate this solidarity with the people of palestine about their sufferings.

Think about the people in Gaza .....

I am an expat and I am not up in arms over this decision. I think it is excellent that the head of the country has shown respect to fellow Arabs and extremely thoughtful. We can never imagine exactly what the people of Palestiene are going through and can only hope we never have to go through it. I think missing out on new years celebration to show respect is a small price to pay and shame on anyone who is more worried about how much beer they get down their neck than the plight of neighbouring countries.

Maybe it would also have been better if the hotels and reseraunts hadn't been planning to be so greedy in the first place.

Salute

So why wasn't the 'official' Muslim New Year on the 28th cancelled in respect too?

People have paid upto to 5000/- in some cases for this evening - will they be refunded?  A more beneficial gesture may have been to allow the events to go on and donate the generated revenue to the victims of this sad and unecessary war. 

Does anybody know how this affects private parties?

His highness Sheikh Mohd. Bin Rashid al Makhtoum deserves laurel for his sense of Peace and safety to the Palestinian people. His highness shows his high-sense. Solidarity must also be shown to victims of Mumbai blasts on 26/11 and new year celeberations there may also perhaps be on low notes.

Yes i am rather anxious, can one still have a private barbeque party in desert??

I completely agree with both sides. On one hand its a wonder why the Islamic new year was not cancelled due to the suffering of the people in Gaza and also its a sign of respect to the people in Palestine to cancel new years. But I feel it should not have been ordered to cancel but to request, those who wish to pay tribute would. Many people have spent thousands of Dirhams not only to plan this new years but also particpate in them so it is unfair to those people.

Lastly I feel it is only being done because of the hatred against Israel. Every day hundreds of people die either at war or through other circumstances but nothing is done in those cases. If it were any other country I dont think new years would be cancelled

weird cos I didn't see the middle east cancelling anything for all the muslim casued terrorist attacks that happened to the US or UK or other places and when the Pakis bombed mumbai.....where was the act of solidarity there? sorry but can't help to think that so its ok for muslims to kill others but when non musilims are killed its ok?

I'm an American expat living and working in Dubai.  A couple of observations...first of all, I sincerely doubt it is "hatred against Israel" that went into a decision to forego huge revenues and potential ill will from our tourists.  I am in complete agreement with what I believe is the true rationale behind this bold move which is to draw attention to the plight of the Palestinian civilians and to maintain a level of decency and respect during their horrific suffering.

Second, as someone else here correctly pointed out, the Islamic new year is not celebrated by public displays of alcohol binging, televised countdowns, or noise, in general.  Most Muslems I know spent quiet times at home or dining out with their family and friends--which, by the way, everyone is still more than welcome to do tonight.  It's not the new year itself that's being canceled (??)...it's the raucous in-your-face publicity of celebrating a new beginning during a time when people dear to the hearts of many are in severe danger and can't even confidently make plans for the next day. 

A strange and pointless decision.

Isn't it better to celebrate the hope of a new year and all that it will bring? Surely a collection of cash from these organised parties would actually help the situation more.

(I was going to stay in tonight with family anyway!)

Bet the Dubai Shopping Festival won't be cancelled in support!

This is absurd and irrational on so many levels, and it will only serve to illustrate and bring to people's attention, the problems of having one person in near-complete control of a government who can wake up in the morning and 'decide' to do such a thing on a whim.

Firstly, the way Gaza is constantly shown as the victim of a completely unprovoked assault by the 'evil Jewish empire' in the news is completely biased. Both sides are wrong in this conflict, and both commit atrocities against each other.

Secondly, at the end of the day who is this going to help? Responding to suffering by making yourself suffer doesn't help anyone. I highly doubt anyone in Gaza will be consoled or comforted by the news that people have been ordered not to have fun on new year's for them.

Thirdly, 'enforced solidarity' is oxymoronic: it simply is not solidarity unless it is done out of free will. The Poppy Appeal back home in England is a beautiful thing because it is not enforced, yet year after year people join in and support it. If the government suddenly mandated that everyone buy a poppy and be silent for one minute, then the solidarity and anything else it shows would be instantly stripped away. 

Finally, as many people hae already said, why was the Islamic new year not cancelled? Surely this would make more sense as it is nearer to the time, and is more fitting - Islamic New Year to show solidarity to the Palestinian people?

The government has no right to tell people they cannot celebrate new year's - and hopefully this will raise serious questions about checks and restrictions on executive power.

Wake up everyone, there was a rumour last week that one of Sheikh mohd son tried to shoot Sheikh mohammed, and in that incident one of his body guard died, maybe who knows ..one of his son also died in all that incident….Dubai does not cancel any of these celebrations for palestine or korea…stop this crap about " Peace and safety to the Palestinian people"......they cancel celebrations only when someone dies in royal family…..think about it!!!

Funny how the poor muslims in gaza are not helped financialy by their rich neigbors. That is the hallmark of the muslims, help as long as it does not cost me anything. This is the biggest welfare state in the world, where do they get rockets to TARGET Israeli civilians? No one will put themselves in the shoes of Israeli citizens who are under attack 24/7 by hamas. What would you do, or what would you expect your country to do? There will be no peace until hamas is wiped out or banashed by the world. Oh by the way palastinian authorties have just approved crucifixtion as legal means of execution. I do not feel sorry for such ignorant people.

I wonder about all the biase reflections we get from most of the above posts, here is what I think, expats should really appreciate the fact that dubai is allowing parties to happen in normal daily life at the first place, go and try living in other rich GCC country and you could never dream of having such a thing. second of all, if expats will show disagreement to HH's decisions they can simply migrate to a differant country . UAE people would really love that to happen so they would have more space for them.  further to mentioning the Muslims new year party , I just want to know what kind of party you guys talking about ? all pops and clubs are being closed on that day so people dont drink and get laid on that night .. so i dont know why this is being raised at the first place.

this is the only time where I think dubai will hit the jewish in thier pocket, most blub business owners will eventually send the money to a jewish bank to bomb out our people in Gaza anyway.

This is a great gesture in deed and a very powerfull symbol as well. Yet it should have been suggested rather then enforced and let the people do as they fell best. Maybe the celebrations or gatherings would have send an even strongger message. And this not only for Palestine or Israeli Victims, yet also for Sudan and Zimbabwe....

I applaud the decision of HH Sheikh Mohamed, although my own company will be hit hard by the financial losses. It would even better if the money that was planned to be burned in fire works and drowned in champagne now would go to aid the suffering civilians in Gaza. But the gesture alone will draw a lot more attention to the war crimes constantly and repeatedly committed by Israel. Mind you, Israel is an internationally acknowledged nation, as opposed to Hamas. Israel keeps ignoring and violating UN resultions for decades, always backed up by their main allies, US, UK etc. Aparently an Israeli life is woth 100 Palestinian or other lifes - proof will be found in their last overreaction, when they destroyed Lebanon, killing hundreds and hundreds of civilians over the abduction of two soldiers.

I wish you all a peaceful New Year!

That is a nice one sided opinion. Man, but you are forgetting the war crimes of hamas and their suicide bombers, arent you. Arent they killing innocent civilans?

While I do believe Israel has it's right to defend itself, it is unacceptable to not bother with civilian casualties.

As for the two abducted soldiers... i would like to suggest reading Starship troopers. While I despise the movie they made out of it, the book is great. Would you start a war for million hostages? I bet you do. Now think about where would you draw the limit, how many hostages are worth starting a war...

Yet again, muslims have it their way. They do cancel our parties, but not theirs. Figures.