LUXOR, Egypt – After six decades of wrangling, Egyptians living in the hills near Luxor have agreed to move out and give tourists and archaeologists access to nearly 1,000 Pharaonic tombs that lie beneath their homes, the government said yesterday.
Officials said most of 3,200 families in the brightly painted, mud-brick houses have agreed to pack up and move to a $32 million residential complex being built three miles away. No deadline for moving has been set, and there is no target date for finishing the complex.
“Most of them want to leave, and they demand to leave,” said Rania Yusuf, a spokeswoman for Egypt's Supreme Council for Antiquities in Luxor.
Only a few families continue to resist, “and they will leave, believe me,” Yusuf said.
The government began trying to get the families to leave after World War II, but talks repeatedly bogged down. Many residents, who depend on Luxor's tourist business to earn a living, argued that new homes being offered were too small and didn't come with new jobs.
Over time, though, many grew tired of the standoff.
To preserve the tombs, authorities prohibited the homeowners from adding to their residences or installing modern plumbing, which forced people to bring water uphill by donkey.
Many people expressed happiness with the government's latest offer, which includes giving residents either new homes or plots of land in the complex, which will include a market, police station, cultural center and schools.
