Israelis and tourists can once again access the Saint George Monastery lookout in the Judean Desert under a procedure announced by the Tourism Ministry this week. The announcement follows a report published last month in The Jerusalem Post Magazine about blocked access to the site.
A document distributed to licensed tour guides says the ministry and the adjacent settlement of Mitzpe Yeriho have prepared a paved driving route to the lookout. The route runs along the community’s perimeter security road, allowing vehicles to reach the site without passing through its residential neighborhoods.
Access had been obstructed for the three years since the October 7 massacre by a series of electronic arm barriers and gates requiring codes. Some of those barriers were installed by Mitzpe Yeriho and others by the IDF. The newly announced arrangements provide instructions for passing through three electronic gates on the way to the lookout.
Visitors must first stop at the guard post at Mitzpe Yeriho’s entrance and present an identification document, which they must leave with the guard. The guard will supply the codes needed to pass through two electronic gates installed by the settlement along the driving route. Those codes cover the settlement’s gates, while a separate procedure applies at the third barrier.
The third gate is administered by the IDF and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. On reaching it, drivers must use an intercom to ask for the gate to be opened. Beyond that point, the entrance to the lookout is a four-kilometer drive away. The procedure therefore combines identification at the settlement entrance, access codes and an intercom request.
Before the road closure following October 7, the lookout was a regular stop for tour buses traveling to and from the Dead Sea. It offers a view of a fifth-century monastery complex built into the Judean Desert’s stark rock formations, where a small number of Greek Orthodox monks live. After access was blocked, the destination became largely deserted and received few visitors.
From the lookout, a steep paved path descends toward the monastery itself. Visiting hours are nominally listed as 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily, although the source describes that availability as theoretical. The ministry’s announcement concerns the route to the lookout overlooking the fortress-like cluster of monastery buildings.
