Luxury Resorts Move In at Mount Sinai: Five Hotels, Villas Threaten a Sacred Landscape
The Great Transfiguration Project is a state‑sponsored tourism push to build five hotels, hundreds of villas, a 1.4‑acre visitors’ center and a shopping complex around the St. Catherine Protectorate, with a target completion in 2026. The government says it is a gift to the entire world and to all religions, a framing reported by the BBC. But Mount Sinai has drawn worshippers and travelers for centuries as a sacred crossroads for Jews, Christians and Muslims alike. For many, the plan feels like a disfigurement of a landscape where Moses is said to have received the Ten Commandments and where the Burning Bush is believed to have spoken. This is a story about sacred sites meeting fast‑tracked luxury development.
Bedouin Guardians on the Front Line: The Jebeleya and a Top‑Down Plan
The Bedouin Jebeleya, traditional guardians of the monastery, fear irreparable damage to their homeland. Locals say their homes and tourist camps have already been destroyed without compensation, and some have even exhumed corpses from a local cemetery to make way for a new parking lot. British travel writer Ben Hoffler, who has worked closely with the Bedouin, calls the project a misframed “development” when imposed from above: “This is not development as the Jebeleya see it, but how it looks when imposed top‑down to serve the interests of outsiders over those of the local community.” There is also concern that the resorts will hire Nile Valley Egyptians rather than Sinai tribespeople, widening a local divide. And for some who speak up, the response is intimidation: Hoffler describes a security network that monitors calls, phones and streets—“they knock on the door” if you speak out, with spyware and surveillance following people wherever they go.
Greece, Courts and a Spirit Under Threat: Protecting St. Catherine’s Identity
Greece is the only foreign power openly opposing the plan, partly because of its connection to St. Catherine Monastery. In May, a court ruled that the monastery sits on state land and that the organization is only entitled to use the land and surrounding archaeological sites. Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens condemned the ruling, saying, “The monastery’s property is being seized and expropriated. This spiritual beacon of Orthodoxy and Hellenism is now facing an existential threat.” After diplomatic talks, Greece and Egypt jointly announced the protection of St. Catherine’s Greek Orthodox identity and cultural heritage. The monastery itself—dating back to the 6th century and home to Christian relics—was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002. The case underscores a broader struggle: how to balance development with safeguarding sacred heritage and the rights of local communities.
