One of the most holy places in the world of mountain Sinai turns into mega reser

For many years, visitors would go to Mount Sinai with the Bedouin leadership to watch the sunrise over the untouched, rocky landscape or went to other hikes under the guidance of Bedouin.

Now one of the most sacred places of Egypt – revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims – is at the heart of the unpleasant line over the plans to turn it into a new mega project.

Locally known as Jabal Musa, Mount Sinai is where Moses received ten commandments. Many also believe that this is a place where, according to the Bible and the Quran, God spoke to the prophet from the burning bush.

The monastery of St. Catherine of the 6th century, which is ruled by the Greek Orthodox Church, is also – and it would seem that its monks will remain on the fact that the Egyptian authorities under Greek pressure are denied to want to close it.

However, there is still a deep concern about how long -isolated, desert location – UNESCO World Heritage Site, consisting of a monastery, city and mountain – is transformed. Luxury hotels, pitchforks and purchases are built there.

It is also home to the traditional Bedouin community, the Jebeleya tribe. Already in the tribe, known as the guardians of St. Catherine, had their homes and tourist eco-lagers, demolished with virtually no compensation. They were even forced to bring bodies from the graves to the local cemetery to give way to new parking.

The project may have been presented as desperately necessary sustainable development, which will enhance tourism, but it was also introduced into Bedouin against their will, says Ben Hoffler, a British writer who cooperated closely with the Sinai tribes.

“This is not a development, because the fuck sees it or asked, but what it looks like when it is imposed on the top to serve the interests of outsiders over the interests of the local community,” he said BBC.

“The new urban world is being built around the Beduin nomadic heritage,” he added. “This is the world that they have always chosen to remain adjusted to the construction of which they disagree, and the one that will forever change their place in the homeland.”

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

So far, Greece is a foreign government that has most voted on Egyptian plans for its connection with the monastery.

The tension between Athens and Cairo broke out after the Egyptian court decided in May, that St. Catherine is the oldest in the world that is constantly used by the Christian monastery – lies on the state land.

After decades, the judges said that the monastery had only the “right to use” the land on which it is sitting, and the archaeological religious monuments that place the neighborhood.

The Archbishop of the IIA II Athens, the head of the Greek Church, quickly announced the ruling.

“The property of the monastery has been confiscated and expropriated. This spiritual lighthouse and Hellenism is now faced with an existential threat,” he said in a statement.

In a rare interview, the longtime Archbishop of St. Catherine Damianas told the Greek newspaper that the decision was “a serious blow for us … and shame”. His treatment of this case led to bitter divisions between the monks and the recent decision to leave the post.

The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate Jerusalem noted that the holy site – over which it has church jurisdiction – was granted a letter on the defense of the Prophet Muhammad himself.

It states that the Byzantine monastery – which is also unusual, is also a small mosque built in the Fatimide era – was the “consolidation of peace between Christians and Muslims, and the shelter of hope for the world.”

While the contradictory court ruling remains in place, the flurry of diplomacy eventually ended with a joint declaration between Greece and Egypt, providing protection of the Greek Orthodox identity of St. Catherine and cultural heritage.

In 2021, Egypt began its state project “Big Move” for tourists. The plan includes the opening of hotels, eco-lines and a large center for visitors, as well as expanding the small nearest airport and a car on Moisei Mount.

The government promotes development as a “gift of Egypt to the whole world and all religions.”

“The project will provide all tourist and recreational services for visitors, to promote the development of the city (St. Catherine) and its surrounding areas, while maintaining the environmental, visual and hereditary nature of the intact character, as well as provides housing for those working on St. Catherine projects,” said the minister of Housing.

While the work appears to have stopped at least temporarily from the financing issues, the El -Rakh plain – given the monastery of St. Catherine – is already transformed. Construction continues on new roads.

It is here, as they say that the followers of Moses, the Israelis, were waiting for him during the time on Mount Sinai. And critics say that the special natural characteristics of the area are destroyed.

Detailed in detail of the excellent universal value of the site, UNESCO notes how “a reliable mountain landscape around … forms the perfect background for the monastery.”

It states: “His location demonstrates a deliberate attempt to establish an intimate connection between natural beauty and remoteness, on the one hand, and the spiritual attachment of man.”

Back in 2023, UNESCO emphasized its problems and urged Egypt to stop the events, check their impact and create a plan of preservation.

This did not happen.

In July, the World Heritage Watch sent an open letter calling on the UNESCO World Heritage Committee to place the Saint Cathedral in the World Heritage List.

The shareholders also addressed King Charles as a patron of the St. Cathedral Foundation, who raises funds to help preserve and study the heritage of the monastery with his collection of valuable ancient Christian manuscripts. The king described the site as “a great spiritual treasure that needs to be supported for next generations.”

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

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

Once the tourist sector of Egypt began to recover after the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, when it was hit by a fierce war in gas and a new wave of regional instability. The government has announced the goal to reach 30 million visitors by 2028.

According to consistent Egyptian governments, the commercial development of the Sinai was carried out without consultation from the indigenous communities of Bedouin.

The peninsula was captured by Israel during the War in the Middle East of 1967 and returned to Egypt only after the two countries signed a peace treaty in 1979. Since then, Bedouins have complained that they are treated as second -grade citizens.

The construction of popular Red Sea in Egypt, including the El Sheikh Sharma, began in Southern Sinai in the 1980s. Many see the resemblance to what is happening in Saint Katarin.

“Bedouins were residents of the region, and they were guides, workers, people who can be rented,” says Egyptian journalist Mahadad.

“Then industrial tourism came, and they were pushed – not just pushed out of the business, but physically pushed from the sea to the sidelines.”

As in the places of the Red Sea, the Egyptians are expected to be brought to work in the development of the new Saint Katarina. However, the government states that it is also a “modernization” of the residential areas of Bedouin.

The monastery of St. Catherine has survived a lot of upset over the last one and a half millennium, but when the oldest monks initially moved there, he was still a remote retreat.

This began to change when the expansion of the Red Sea resorts brought thousands of pilgrims to one -day peak trips.

In recent years, large crowds have often been spotted by falling past that, as they say, the remains of a blazing bush or a visit to the museum that reflect the pages from the Sinaiticus Code – the world’s oldest, almost full, handwritten copies of the New Testament.

Now, despite the fact that the monastery and the deep religious value of the site will remain, its surroundings and centuries -old ways of life look irreversibly altered.