Mount Sinai, a site sacred to Jews, Christians, and Muslims as the purported location where Moses received the Ten Commandments, is being controversially developed into a luxury mega-resort by the Egyptian government, raising alarms over cultural preservation and indigenous rights. This transformation, part of the Great Transfiguration Project, has sparked international concern and local displacement, with recent reports highlighting ongoing construction and diplomatic tensions.
The area encompasses the 6th-century St. Catherine’s Monastery, the world’s oldest continuously used Christian monastery, and the surrounding rugged desert landscape, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site revered for its spiritual significance. For generations, it has attracted pilgrims and tourists seeking solace, often guided by the local Bedouin community, but now faces irreversible changes due to the development initiative aimed at boosting Egypt’s tourism economy.
Egypt’s government launched the project in 2021, planning to construct luxury hotels, villas, shopping bazaars, a visitor center, an expanded airport, and a cable car to Mount Sinai, promoting it as a gift to the world that will preserve heritage while providing modern amenities. However, critics argue that the development is being imposed without adequate consultation, focusing on economic gains rather than sustainable or respectful integration with the site’s historical and natural values.
The local Jebeleya Bedouin tribe, known as the Guardians of St. Catherine, has borne the brunt of the development, with homes and eco-camps demolished, graves exhumed for a new car park, and minimal compensation offered, leading to allegations of forced displacement and erosion of their centuries-old way of life. Many tribe members are reluctant to speak out, but travel writer Ben Hoffler, who has worked closely with Sinai tribes, describes the project as top-down imposition that serves outsider interests over local communities.
International reactions have been strong, particularly from Greece due to its religious ties to the Greek Orthodox monastery, with tensions flaring after an Egyptian court ruled in May that the monastery lies on state land, a decision denounced by church leaders as an existential threat. Diplomacy ensued, resulting in a joint declaration between Greece and Egypt to protect the monastery’s cultural heritage, but the ruling remains in place, and concerns persist about the site’s future.
UNESCO and conservation groups have repeatedly raised alarms, calling for a halt to developments and the creation of a conservation plan, citing the risk to the area’s outstanding universal value, including its natural beauty and spiritual ambiance. In July, World Heritage Watch urged listing the site as endangered, while campaigners have appealed to figures like King Charles III, patron of the St. Catherine Foundation, for support in preserving this spiritual treasure.
This situation echoes past developments in Sinai, such as the construction of Red Sea resorts like Sharm el-Sheikh in the 1980s, where Bedouin communities were marginalized and pushed out of economic opportunities, as noted by Egyptian journalist Mohannad Sabry. The pattern of industrial tourism overriding indigenous rights and environmental sensitivity is a recurring issue in Egypt’s efforts to revitalize its economy, especially after setbacks from the COVID-19 pandemic and regional instability like the Gaza war.
Despite funding delays, construction continues, particularly in the Plain of el-Raha, with new roads and buildings altering the landscape where followers of Moses are said to have waited. The monastery and its religious significance will endure, but the surroundings and traditional lifestyles are set for permanent change, underscoring the global challenge of balancing development with the preservation of cultural and natural heritage for future generations.