One of the most sacred places in the world Mount Sinai becomes a mega well

For years, visitors would embark on Mount Sinai with a Bedouin leader to observe the sunrise over the virgin, rocky landscape or to go to other hikes led by Bedouin.

Now one of the most sacred places in Egypt – worshiped by Jews, Christians and Muslims – is the basis of a wicked order over plans to turn it into a new tourist mega project.

Known locally like Jabal Musa, Mount Sinai is where Moses is said to have received the ten commandments. Many also believe that this is the place where, according to the Bible and Qur’an, God speaks to the prophet of the burning bush.

The monastery of St. St. Catherine, ruled by the Greek Orthodox Church, is also there – and apparently his monks will remain now when the Egyptian authorities, under Greek pressure, have denied wanting to close it.

However, there is still a deep concern about how the long isolated, desert location – a UNESCO World Heritage Site, including the Monastery, the City and the Mountain – is transformed. Luxury hotels, villas and bazaars are built there.

It is also home to a traditional Bedouin Community, the Jaelja tribe. The tribe, known as the guardians of St. Catherine, destroyed their homes and tourist camps with little or no compensation. They were even forced to remove bodies from their graves in the local cemetery to make way to a new parking lot.

The project may be presented as a desperately necessary sustainable development that will strengthen tourism, but it is also imposed on Bedouin against their will, says Ben Hoffler, a British travel writer who worked in close cooperation with Sinai.

“This is not a development, as Jaelna sees it or wants it, but what it looks like when it is imposed from the top down to serve the interests of outsiders over those of the local community,” he told the BBC.

“A new urban world is being built around a Bedouin tribe of nomadic heritage,” he added. “This is a world from which they have always chosen to remain torn, whose construction has not agreed, and the one who will change their place in their homeland forever.”

The locals, who number about 4000, do not want to talk directly about the changes.

So far, Greece is the foreign power that is most voiceproof for Egyptian plans because of its connection with the monastery.

The tension between Athens and Cairo broke out after the Egyptian court ruled in May that St. Catherine – the oldest ever -used Christian monastery in the world – lies on state land.

After decades of dispute, the judges said that the monastery had only the “right to use” the land it sits and the archaeological religious sites that flood its surroundings.

Archbishop Ieronymos II from Athens, the head of the Church of Greece, quickly denies the decision.

“The property of the monastery is seized and alienated. This spiritual beacon of orthodoxia and Hellenism is now facing an existential threat,” he said in a statement.

In a rare interview, the longtime archbishop of St. Catherine Damianos said in a Greek newspaper that the decision was “a serious blow to us … and a shame”. His work with the affair led to bitter divisions between the monks and his recent decision to withdraw.

The Greek orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem pointed out that the sacred object – over which there is a church jurisdiction – received a letter of protection from the prophet Mohammed himself.

It said that the Byzantine Monastery – which is unusually housed and a small mosque built in the era of Fatimid – is “an attachment of peace between Christians and Muslims and a refuge of hope for a world tormented by conflict.”

While the conflicting court decision remains in force, ultimately diplomacy ultimately ended with a joint declaration between Greece and Egypt, guaranteeing the protection of the Greek Orthodox identity of Saint Catherine and the cultural heritage.

Egypt began its country -sponsored project for a large tourist conversion in 2021. The plan involves the opening of hotels, an environmental and a large visitors center, as well as the expansion of the small airport nearby and a cable car to Moses.

The government encourages development as “the gift of Egypt for the whole world and all religions.”

“The project will provide all tourist and entertainment services for visitors, will encourage the development of the city (of Stin Catherine) and its surrounding areas, while maintaining the environmental, visual and hereditary nature of the virgin nature and will provide accommodation for those working on the projects of Saint Catherine.”

While the work seemed to have been stopped, at least temporarily due to problems with funding, the plain of El -rakha – in view of the monastery of St. Catherine – has already been transformed. Construction continues on new roads.

It is said that the followers of Moses, the Israelites were waiting for him during his time on Mount Sinai. And critics say the special natural characteristics of the area are destroyed.

Determining the exceptional universal value of the site, UNESCO notes how “the rough mountain landscape around … forms the perfect background for the monastery.”

It says: “His placement demonstrates a deliberate attempt to establish an intimate connection between natural beauty and distance on the one hand and the human spiritual commitment on the other.”

As early as 2023, UNESCO emphasized his concerns and called on Egypt to stop development, to test their impact and to create a preservation plan.

That didn’t happen.

In July, the World Heritage Watch sent an open letter with a UNESCO World Heritage Committee to place the St. Catherine area on the list of world heritage sites at risk.

The campaigns also turned to King Charles as the patron saint of St. Catherine Foundation, which raises funds to support the conservation and study of the heritage of the monastery with his collection of valuable ancient Christian manuscripts. The king described the place as “a great spiritual treasure that must be maintained for future generations.”

The mega-project is not the first in Egypt to draw criticism due to a lack of sensitivity to the country’s unique history.

But the government sees its series of grand schemes as key to strengthening the flag economy.

Once the thriving tourist sector in Egypt began to recover from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, when it was affected by the brutal war in Gaza and a new wave of regional instability. The government has announced a goal to reach 30 million visitors by 2028.

In consistent Egyptian governments, the commercial development of Sinai is carried out without consulting the indigenous Bedouin communities.

The peninsula was captured by Israel during the Middle East war in 1967 and returned to Egypt after the two countries signed a peace treaty in 1979. The Bedouin complained that they were treated as second -class citizens.

The construction of popular Red Sea destinations in Egypt, including Sharm El-Sheikh, began in South Sinai in the 1980s. Many see similarities to what is happening in St. Catherine now.

“The Bedouin was the people in the region and they were the leaders, the workers, the people to hire,” says Egyptian journalist Mohanad Sabri.

“Then industrial tourism came in and they were pushed – not only pushed out of business, but physically pushed back from the sea in the background.”

As in the places of the Red Sea, the Egyptians are expected to be brought to work in the development of the new St. Catherine. However, the government says it is also a “modernization” of the Bedouin’s residential regions.

St. Catherine’s Monastery has endured many cataclysms over the past millennium and a half, but when the oldest of the monks at the site initially moved there, it was still a remote retreat.

This began to change as the expansion of the Red Sea resorts brought thousands of worshipers on day trips in peak times.

In recent years, large crowds have often been seen that it is currently said that the remnants of the burning bush or a visit to a museum showing pages of the Sinaiticus Code – the oldest survivor, almost a complete copy of the New Testament.

Now, although the monastery and the deep religious meaning of the site will remain, its environment and centuries -old ways of life seem to be irreversibly changed.