Will UNESCO list Saint Catherine’s Monastery as an endangered heritage site?

Egypt recently managed to remove the historic Abu Mina monastery in Alexandria from UNESCO’s list of endangered heritage sites after years of deterioration. However, international voices have been raised calling for the historic Saint Catherine monastery to be added to the list due to the recent crisis at this unique site in Sinai.

Monitoring heritage sites

The latest incident prompted World Heritage Watch, a non-governmental organization that monitors the status of World Heritage sites, to issue a statement calling for the monastery to be included on UNESCO’s list of endangered World Heritage sites. It blamed UNESCO for its failure to act.

It considered that UNESCO had been lenient in its treatment of Egyptian heritage sites over the past 20 years. The statement also noted that Egypt had failed to comply with many of the international organization’s decisions and requests. Stefan Dubke, president of the World Heritage Watch organization, said he had previously called for an assessment of the impact of what had happened in the Saint Catherine area.

He presented the entire project to UNESCO and its experts, given the exceptional and universal value of the site. According to the statement, the organization relied on the opinions of unnamed specialists with decades of experience in dealing with the Saint Catherine site. It also consulted local residents in the area.

The organization concluded that the government continued to provide misleading, inconsistent, or incomplete information to UNESCO. It considered that the time had come for UNESCO to clearly state that its patience had run out. “The isolation and tranquility of the area, which are fundamental values of the World Heritage property, must be preserved under all circumstances.

This is necessary to preserve the sacred character of the landscape and enable the spiritual retreat of the monks.”

Conflict of interest

The statement questioned the organization’s silence on the passage of the bill at a time when the Egyptian government is promoting its candidate, Khaled El-Anany, for the presidency of UNESCO, calling it incomprehensible. It added: “It would be ironic for the director-general of the organization to oversee the World Heritage Convention while remaining silent about what is happening in the Saint Catherine area.” It pointed out that this is a serious conflict of interest for UNESCO.

The World Heritage Watch organization called for several measures to be taken this week. Through the adoption of the World Heritage Committee’s decisions at its session this year, including:

• The Committee should issue a statement reaffirming UNESCO’s recognition of the Greek Orthodox Church’s ownership rights to the Monastery of Saint Catherine and its external properties.
• The Committee must also verify the accuracy of information from independent and reliable sources that the site is facing several major factors recognized by the World Heritage Committee that affect the site. These include development, transportation, social, legal, and institutional factors that threaten its outstanding universal value.
• The World Heritage Committee shall insist that a joint UNESCO/ICOMOS interactive monitoring mission visit the site within three months of the end of the World Heritage Committee meeting.
• Depending on the results of the interactive monitoring mission, the World Heritage Committee should then consider the possibility of inscribing the property on the List of World Heritage in Danger, especially if the mission fails to conduct the visit within the proposed timeframe.

Independence of the monastery

Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Maqsoud, former secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said that those in charge of the monastery took memorable positions during the Israeli occupation of the Sinai Peninsula after 1967. This was when the Archbishop of Sinai and the head of the monastery, along with the monks, hid Egyptian soldiers after the occupation army tried to find them.

He added that when the occupation forces tried to Judaize southern Sinai by buying land from the Bedouins in the area of St. Catherine’s Monastery, the information reached the monastery’s abbot, who immediately met with the elders of the tribes of southern Sinai. They all agreed to refuse to sell any land within the Sinai region, stressing the importance of rejecting this dangerous move and not ceding any inch of land to the Israeli enemy.

He pointed out that the priests of the monastery showed a wise national stance during the Israeli occupation. They preserved its sanctity and independence and supported the Egyptian cause.

Lack of explanation and clarification

Regarding the recent crisis, Abdel-Maqsoud said, “It must be explained to the people, because the lack of explanation has caused it to escalate. The problem itself is that the monastery as a building is not involved. The reason for this lies in the land surrounding the monastery, which those in charge of the monastery consider to be its property. The state, however, wants to use part of it for tourism development, especially as it will increase the value of the area. This is where the crisis arose when the monastery was dragged into an investment issue.”

He continued: “It would have been better to clarify the facts, including that the status of the monastery will not change and that rituals will continue to be performed there permanently. It is registered on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. This is in addition to the state’s commitment to respect the historical agreements that have been signed throughout history.”

He explained that the main purpose of the project is to rehabilitate the area of the Transfiguration, an idea that many countries are implementing. Egypt should have supported the idea many years ago. The problem that has arisen is due to the confusion between politics, religion, investment, and the assertion of influence, which are complex issues. Therefore, the problem must be resolved in a way that respects the heritage values of the area and ensures that any investment project does not harm the heritage value of the site.

He concluded: “It is necessary to submit such projects to UNESCO as the supervisory body that has the right to monitor sites registered on the World Heritage List.”

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