Mount Sinai’s Sacred Silence Threatened by Egypt’s Tourism Ambitions

 

For generations, Mount Sinai has stood as a place of reverence and retreat. Pilgrims trekked up its steep slopes with Bedouin guides to watch the sunrise break over its rocky landscape. Known locally as Jabal Musa, it is venerated by Jews, Christians and Muslims as the mountain where Moses received the Ten Commandments. At its foot sits St Catherine’s Monastery, a sixth-century treasure of Orthodox Christianity that also houses a mosque, a symbol of rare interfaith harmony.

Today, however, this timeless landscape is being redrawn. Bulldozers and cranes now dominate what was once a remote sanctuary. Egypt’s Great Transfiguration Project, a state-backed tourism initiative, is transforming the sacred site into a modern mega-destination. Hotels, villas, shopping bazaars, and even a cable car are under construction, promising to rebrand Sinai as a luxury hub for millions of visitors.

Bedouin Roots Uprooted

For the Jebeleya Bedouin, the transformation has been devastating. Known as the Guardians of St Catherine, they have guided pilgrims and protected the monastery for centuries. Now, many of their eco-camps have been demolished. Graves in their local cemetery were even dug up to make way for parking lots. Compensation has been minimal, if offered at all.

“This is not development as the Jebeleya asked for,” says British travel writer Ben Hoffler, who has worked with Sinai tribes. “It is a project imposed from above, serving outsiders, not the local community. A new city is being built around a nomadic people who never gave their consent.”

Their plight recalls the fate of Bedouins pushed aside in Sharm el-Sheikh and other Red Sea resorts. As Egyptian journalist Mohannad Sabry explains: “They were once the hosts and guides. Then industrial tourism came, and they were pushed off their land and into the margins.”

Diplomatic and Religious Tensions

The project has also unsettled religious diplomacy. Earlier this year, an Egyptian court ruled that St Catherine’s Monastery, the world’s oldest continuously operating Christian monastery, sits on state land and has no ownership rights. Greece, which has historic ties to the monastery, reacted angrily. Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens called it “seizure and expropriation,” while Archbishop Damianos of St Catherine’s described it as a “grave blow” before resigning amid divisions among the monks.

The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem reminded the world that the Prophet Muhammad himself had granted the monastery protection, calling it “a refuge of hope for a world in conflict.” Diplomatic negotiations ultimately produced a joint Egypt-Greece declaration pledging to preserve the monastery’s identity, but mistrust remains.

UNESCO’s Alarm

Mount Sinai, St Catherine’s Monastery, and the surrounding town are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The agency has repeatedly warned that the project undermines the fragile bond between the rugged natural setting and the monastery’s spiritual solitude. In 2023, UNESCO urged Egypt to halt development and submit a conservation plan, a request still unmet.

Meanwhile, the Plain of el-Raha, believed to be where the Israelites waited as Moses spoke with God, is already carved up by new roads and construction. World Heritage Watch has called for Sinai to be declared an endangered site. Campaigners have even appealed to King Charles, patron of the St Catherine Foundation, to intervene.

Egypt’s Response

Egypt defends the project as a lifeline. Officials describe it as “a gift to the world,” promising jobs, infrastructure, and a revival of the country’s tourism sector, a vital source of foreign income battered by the pandemic, regional unrest, and the Gaza conflict. The government aims to attract 30 million tourists by 2028.

Yet critics warn that this economic vision comes at the expense of heritage and faith. “The spiritual character of Sinai is being bulldozed for mass tourism,” Hoffler cautions.

A Sacred Future at Stake

St Catherine’s Monastery has survived centuries of invasions and upheavals, its monks guarding priceless manuscripts and preserving an enduring Christian legacy. But the challenge it now faces comes not from conquerors, but from the ambitions of modern development.

For the Jebeleya tribe and for millions of faithful around the world, the pressing question is simple: Will Sinai remain a place of prayer and pilgrimage, or will it be remade into another desert resort, stripped of its sacred silence?