Holiday Ayo - Mount Sinai, known in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions as the site where Moses dialogued with God and received the Ten Commandments, is now facing an ambitious transformation: the creation of a luxury resort complex that will include a high-star hotel, villas, a shopping mall, a cable car, and other supporting infrastructure.

The news has sparked a debate between the preservation of the holy site and the commercialization of tourism.

For years, Mount Sinai in Egypt has been a destination for religious tourism. It is believed that Moses dialogued with God through the burning bush and received the Ten Commandments at this sacred site for Jews, Christians, and Muslims.

The site is now the subject of a new mega-tourism project. The plan has raised concerns about the integrity of the UNESCO World

Heritage site, which includes a monastery, a city, and a mountain. Luxury hotels, villas, and a shopping mall are being built there.

Known locally as Jabal Musa, Mount Sinai includes the 6th-century St. Catherine's Monastery, which is managed by the Greek Orthodox Church.

The Egyptian government, under pressure from Greece, has denied any intention to close the monastery. Mount Sinai is also home to a traditional Bedouin community, the Jebeleya.

Known as the Guardians of St. Catherine, the tribe has seen their homes and tourist camps destroyed with little or no compensation.

They have even been forced to remove the remains of their ancestors from the local cemetery because the cemetery complex is being built to make way for a new car park.

Mount Sinai

The project was promised as a much-needed sustainable development that would boost tourism.

However, the Bedouin are being forced into it, says Ben Hoffler, a British travel writer who has worked closely with tribes in Sinai.

"This is not the development the Jebeleya asked for, but rather a development that seems to be imposed from the top down to serve the interests of outsiders over the interests of the local community," he told the BBC.

"A new urban world is being built around the Bedouin, whose nomadic heritage," he added.

"They are choosing to be separate from this [new] world, whose development they do not approve of, and which will change their homeland forever," Ben said.

The local population, numbering about 4,000, has been reluctant to speak directly about the changes.

Greece has been the most vocal about Egypt's plans because of its ties to the monastery.

Tensions between Athens and Cairo escalated after an Egyptian court ruled in May that St. Catherine's Monastery—the world's oldest

Christian monastery still in use—is on state land.

After decades of dispute, the judges ruled that the monastery only has the "right to use" the land on which it stands and the surrounding religious sites.

Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens, head of the Church of Greece, immediately condemned the ruling.

"The monastery's property is being confiscated and expropriated. This spiritual beacon of Orthodoxy and Hellenism now faces an existential threat," he said in a statement.

In a rare interview, longtime Archbishop Damianos of St. Catherine's told a Greek newspaper that the ruling was "a terrible blow for us... and a disgrace."

His handling of the case led to a bitter split among the monks and his recent decision to step down.

Mount Sinai in Egypt is believed to be the site where Moses conversed with God through a burning bush and received the Ten Commandments.

The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem stated that the holy site—which falls under their ecclesiastical jurisdiction—was granted a letter of protection by the Prophet Muhammad.

The Byzantine-era monastery—which also houses a small mosque built during the Fatimid era—is "a sanctuary of peace between Christians and Muslims and a refuge of hope for a world mired in conflict."

While the controversial court ruling remains in effect, a series of diplomatic efforts ultimately culminated in a Greek and Egyptian declaration guaranteeing the protection of the identity and cultural heritage of the Greek Orthodox Monastery of St. Catherine.

The plan includes the opening of a hotel, eco-lodges, a visitor center, as well as the expansion of a small airport and a cable car to Mount Moses.

The Egyptian government called the development "Egypt's gift to the whole world and to all religions."

"The project will provide all tourism and recreation services for visitors, promote the development of the town [of St. Catherine] and its surroundings while preserving its pristine environmental, visual, and natural heritage character, and provide accommodation for those working on it."