Egypt denies court ruling threatens historic monastery

Egypt and Greece sought to ease tensions over the historic St. Catherine’s monastery in the Sinai peninsula on Friday after a controversial court ruling said it sat on state-owned land.

Cairo has denied that the ruling threatens the UNESCO world heritage landmark, a pilgrimage and tourism site, after Greek and church authorities warned the sacred site’s status was at risk.

St. Catherine’s monastery was established in the sixth century at the biblical site of the burning bush in the southern mountains of the Sinai peninsula, and is the world’s oldest continually inhabited Christian monastery.

A court in Sinai ruled on Wednesday in a land dispute between the monastery and the South Sinai governorate that the monastery “is entitled to use” the land and the archaeological religious sites dotting the area, all of which “the state owns as public property.”

The ruling comes with a government development project underway to boost visitor numbers to the area, which is popular with pilgrims and adventure tourists looking to climb Mount Sinai.

But on Friday, in a phone call with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Cairo was “fully committed to preserving the unique and sacred religious status of Saint Catherine’s monastery, and ensuring it is not violated.”