Egypt Plans Luxury Resort at Sacred Mount Sinai Amid Global Concerns

Egypt's Great Transfiguration Project aims to develop Mount Sinai, home to the ancient St Catherine’s Monastery, into a luxury tourist resort with hotels, villas, shopping areas, and a cable car. The initiative has sparked significant controversy due to concerns over environmental damage, the displacement of the indigenous Jebeleya Bedouin community—who have reportedly lost homes and eco-tourism camps without adequate compensation—and the threat to the site’s spiritual and cultural heritage. The monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage site significant to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, has become a focal point of tension between Egypt and Greece, especially after an Egyptian court ruling limited its land rights, provoking strong reactions from the Church of Greece. Critics argue that the development imposes a top-down urbanization that disregards local community consent and risks transforming a sacred landscape into a commercialized tourist zone. Egyptian authorities maintain the project will boost tourism and preserve heritage, but international heritage groups, local tribes, and religious leaders warn of an existential threat to both the monastery and the Bedouin way of life. The debate highlights broader conflicts over the balance between economic development and cultural preservation at one of the world’s most revered religious sites.