Egypt grapples with backlash over Mount Sinai tourism project

For years, visitors would go to Sinai Mountain with the Bedouin Guide to watch the sunrise on the unspoiled, rocky landscape or to go to other Bedouin -led walks.

Now one of the most sacred places of Egypt – he is respected by Jews, Christians and Muslims – at the center of a sacred sequence on his plans to turn him into a new tourism mega project.

Mount Sinai, known as Jabal Moses locally, is said to have been given ten orders of Moses. Many, according to the Gospel and the Qur’an, believe that God is the place where he speaks to the prophet from the burning bush.

The monastery, which was operated by the Greek Orthodox Church of the 6th century St Catherine – and apparently, rejected the Egyptian officials under the Greek pressure.

However, there is still a deep concern that the isolated, desert position – a UNESCO World Heritage Site of Monastery, Town and Mountain – has been transformed for a long time. There luxury hotels, villas and shopping markets are under construction.

At the same time, a traditional Bedouin community is home to the Jebeleya tribe. The tribal, houses and touristic eco camps, known as St Catherine’s protectors, were destroyed by little compensation or did not receive any compensation. They even had to remove the bodies from their graves in the local cemetery to lead a new parking lot.

The project may be presented as desperate sustainable development that will increase tourism, but the British travel writer Ben Hoffler, who works close to Sinai tribes, was imposed against their will to Bedouin.

“This said to the BBC how Jebeleya has seen or wants, but how the foreigners look from top to bottom to serve the interests of the local community.”

“A new urban world is being built around the Bedouin tribe of the nomadic heritage.” He continued: “It is a world that will always remain detached, the construction is not consent and that it will change its place in their homeland forever.”

The locals number 4,000 do not want to talk about direct changes.

So far, Greece is the most vocal foreign force about Egyptian plans due to its connection with the monastery.

The tensions between Athens and Cairo flared up after the Egyptian court decided that St Catherine – the world’s oldest Christian monastery, the world’s oldest Christian monastery.

After decades of disputes, the judges said that the monastery “has the right to use the archaeological religious areas that ended the land and its surroundings.”

President of the Church of Greece IIERONYMOS II.

“The property of the monastery is seized and expropriated. This spiritual sign of Orthodoxy and Hellenism is now facing an existential threat.” He said.

In a rare interview, St Catherine’s Archbishop Damianos for a long time told a Greek newspaper that the decision was “a serious blow for us and embarrassing.” His dealing with the incident led to the bitter sections between the monks and the last decision to resign.

The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem pointed out that the sacred area, which had religious judicial authority, was given a letter of protection by the Prophet Muhammad.

He said that the Byzantine Monastery, which also hosted a small mosque built in the Fatimid age, was “the merger of peace among Christians and Muslims and a shelter for a world by conflict”.

Although there is a controversial court order, a diplomacy hurry in a common declaration that ultimately protects St Catherine’s Greek Orthodox identity and cultural heritage between Greece and Egypt.

In 2021, Egypt began a state -supported great metamorphosis project for tourists. The plan includes hotels, Eco-Lodges and a large visitor center, as well as expanding the nearby small airport and a cable car to Mount Moses.

The government introduces the development as “Gift to the whole world and all religions of Egypt.”

“The project will provide all tourism and entertainment services for visitors and encourage the development of the town. [of St Catherine] Housing Minister Sherif al-Sherbiney said last year, while protecting the environmental, visual and inheritance character of the unspoiled nature, and provides accommodation to employees on St Catherine’s projects.

Although the work seems to have stopped at least temporarily due to financing problems, it has already been transformed in terms of the monastery of the El -raha Plain – St Catherine. Construction continues on new roads.

Moses ‘followers, Israelis’ followers are said to be waiting for him during the time spent on Mount Sinai. And critics say that the special natural characteristics of the region have been destroyed.

Detailing the extraordinary universal value of the site, UNESCO notes “how the rugged mountainous landscape … The perfect ground for the monastery”.

“The session shows a deliberate attempt to establish a sincere connection between natural beauty and distance and distance and on the other hand.”

In 2023, UNESCO emphasized his concerns and called on Egypt to stop developments, control its effects and produce a protection plan.

This did not happen.

In July, World Heritage Watch sent an open letter to UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee to endanger St Catherine’s region on the list of world heritage areas.

The campaigns also approached King Charles as the boss of the St Catherine Foundation, which collected funds to help protect and examine the monastery’s legacy with its valuable ancient Christian manuscripts collection. The king described the site as “a great spiritual treasure that must be maintained for future generations”.

Mega project is not the first project to criticize for a lack of sensitivity to the unique history of the country in Egypt.

However, the government sees the key to revitalizing the economy of marking the glorious schemes.

When the tourism sector of Egypt once was hit by a ruthless war in Gaza and a new wave of regional instability, it began to get rid of the effects of Covid-19 pandema. Until 2028, the government declared a goal to reach 30 million visitors.

Under consecutive Egyptian governments, the commercial development of Sina was realized without consulting domestic Bedouin communities.

The peninsula was caught by Israel during the Middle East War in 1967, and only the two countries returned to Egypt after signed a peace agreement in 1979. Bedouin has been treated like second -class citizens since then.

The construction of popular red sea destinations, including the Sharm al-Sheikh of Egypt, began in the 1980s in Southern Sina. Many of them see similarities with what happened in St Catherine’s Now.

“The Bedouin was the people of the Bedouin region, and they were guides, workers, people to rent,” Egyptian journalist Mohannad Sabry says.

“Then the industrial tourism came and they were pushed out – not just out of work, but also physically pushed it back from the sea to the background.”

As in the Red Sea places, the Egyptians from other parts of the country are expected to be brought to work in the development of the new St Catherine. However, the government, Bedouin settlements “raised” said, he said.

St Catherine’s Monastery has endured many uprisings for the last millennium, but when the oldest of the priests on the site was originally moved there, it was still a remote withdrawal.

The expansion of the Red Sea Holiday Villages began to change as it brought thousands of pilgrims to daily trips during the most intense hours.

In recent years, large crowds visit a museum that is usually said to be the remains of burning shrubs or exhibiting pages from the codex, and visits a museum with almost a complete survivor, almost complete, handwriting copy of the world.

Now, although the monastery and deep religious importance of the site seems to have changed its surroundings and its lifestyles for centuries.