The dangers of the changes promoted by the Egyptian government to Mount Sinai, with a special reference to the Orthodox Monastery of St. Catherine, points out in an article by the BBC, stressing that Cairo’s plans to create a tourist resort in the area threaten the Virgin.

The British network notes that one of the most sacred places in Egypt-in awe of Jews, Christians and Muslims-is at the center of an unnecessary conflict over the plans of converting it into a new tourist mega-port.

Mount Sinai is considered the place where Moses received the ten commands. Many also believe that it is the point where, according to the Bible and the Koran, God spoke to the Prophet through the burning rash.

Her monastery Saint Catherine of the 6th centurygoverned by the Greek Orthodox Church, is also there -and it seems that his monks will remain, as the Egyptian authorities, under the pressure of Greece, have denied that they intend to close it.

However, there are still strong concerns about how this isolated place – which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, including the Monastery, the City and the Mountain – is transformed. Luxury hotels, villas and tourist bazaars are built there. It is also the homeland of a traditional Bedouin community, the Jebeleya tribe (Jebeleya).

Already this race, also known as the Guardians of St. Catherine, has seen its houses and ecological tourist accommodation being demolished without compensation. They were even forced to dig the dead from the area’s cemetery to create a new parking lot.

The project has been presented as a “essential sustainable development” that will boost tourism, but has been imposed on Bedouins without their consent, says British Travel writer Ben Hoffler, who has worked closely with Sinai’s tribes.

“This is not growing as gembeleles see or demand it, but it is imposed on top to serve the interests of foreigners rather than the local community,” he told the BBC.

“A new bourgeois world is built around a Bedouin nomadic tribe,” he added. “It is a world from which they have chosen to remain cut off, in which they did not agree and will forever change their place in their home country.”

About 4,000 residents in the area are reluctant to talk openly about the changes. So far, Greece is the foreign force that has strongly expressed its dissatisfaction with Egyptian plans because of its connection to the monastery.

The tensions between Athens and Cairo escalated after a decision of an Egyptian court in May, which ruled that St. Catherine – the oldest in constant Christian monastery in the world – is on state land.

After decades of controversy, the judges ruled that the monastery has only the “right to use” the Earth.

Archbishop Hieronymus, the priest of the Church of Greece, reacted strongly: “The monastery’s property is seized and expropriated. This spiritual lighthouse of Orthodoxy and Hellenism is now facing an existential threat, “he said in a statement.

In a rare interview, Archbishop Damianos of St. Catherine described the decision “a heavy blow to us … and shame”. The way the case was managed by himself led to bitter divisions between the monks and his recent decision to resign.

The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem recalled that this sacred point – which is under its ecclesiastical jurisdiction – had received a “protection order” from the Prophet Mohammed himself.

He emphasized that the Byzantine monastery – which includes a small mosque of the Fatimid era – is “a symbol of peace between Christians and Muslims and a refuge for hope for a world that is broken by conflicts”.

Despite the maintenance of the controversial judicial ruling, strong diplomatic mobility eventually led to a joint declaration of Greece and Egypt to ensure the Greek Orthodox identity and cultural heritage of St. Catherine, the BBC reports.

“Gift” or insult?

Egypt launched the Great Transfiguration Project in 2021. The plan includes the construction of hotels, ecological accommodation, a large center of visitors, as well as the expansion of the small nearby airport and the installation of cable car to Mount Sinai.

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

“The project will provide all tourist and recreational services for visitors, promote the development of the city [της Αγίας Αικατερίνης] and the surrounding areas maintaining the environmental, visual and cultural nature of the virgin nature, “said Housing Minister Sherif El-Searbini.

Although work seems to have been temporarily stopped due to financial problems, the plain of El-Raha overlooking the monastery has already been transformed.

Critics of the plan say that the particular physical characteristics of the area are destroyed.

In 2023, UNESCO expressed its concerns and called on Egypt to stop work, control their impact and draw up a landscape preservation plan, but that didn’t happen.

In July, the World Heritage Watch organization sent an open letter asking the UNESCO World Heritage Site to integrate the area of ​​St. Catherine into the World Heritage List at risk.

Activists also turned to King Charles, as the patron of the St Catherine Foundation, which brings together resources for the preservation and study of the monastery’s cultural heritage, with the valuable collection of ancient Christian manuscripts. Charles has described the place as “a great spiritual treasure that must be maintained for future generations”

Mega-portrait is not the first in Egypt to receive criticism of a lack of sensitivity to the country’s unique history.

However, the government sees the order of these grand plans as a key to revitalizing the tested economy.

The ever-flourishing tourism sector in Egypt had begun to recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, when it was hit by the brutal war in Gaza and a new wave of regional instability. The government has aimed to attract 30 million visitors by 2028.

Under consecutive Egyptian governments, Sinai’s commercial development proceeds without consultation with the top communities.

The construction of the Red Sea Tourist resorts, such as Sharm El Sheikh, began in the 1980s. Many see similarities to what is happening now in St. Catherine.

Egyptian journalist Mohannad Sabry notes: “Bedouins were the people of the area, they were the drivers, the workers, the ones from whom visitors rented. Then came the mass tourism and they were displaced. “