The Israeli government intends to approve a plan for the rehabilitation of an ancient reservoir that once supplied water to Jerusalem, but has fallen into disrepair, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Mayor Moshe Lion announced on Monday.

Netanyahu and Lion visited the Mamilla Pool, a unique historical site from the Byzantine period, which reflects the city’s complex history.

Mamilla Pool, with a capacity of 30,000 cubic meters (some 7.9 million gallons), is located outside the walls of the Old City about 710 yards northwest of Jaffa Gate in the center of the Mamilla Cemetery. It is connected by an underground channel to Hezekiah’s Pool in the Christian Quarter of the Old City.

In recent years, a plan has been advanced to rehabilitate and upgrade the site, in order to preserve its historical, architectural and ecological values.

On Monday afternoon, at a festive Cabinet meeting in honor of Jerusalem Day, the Israeli government is to approve a decision to rehabilitate the Mamilla Pool, which, according to a press release, “will breathe life into it and turn it into a Jerusalem gem in the form of a heritage site and a space for the benefit of the public.”

Netanyahu said, “We are in the midst of a difficult campaign, at the end of which we will defeat Hamas and release our hostages in the south. And we also have many other challenges. But at the same time, we are building our country.

“Our country is special, and it also has a special city—Jerusalem. I’m here with the mayor of Jerusalem, Moshe Lion. We want not only to build the future, we also want to expose the past, because they are intertwined,” he said.

“So one day I walk here. I walk a lot in Jerusalem. And I pass by the pool. I see the mayor and I say to him: ‘Moshe, what is this? It’s completely neglected.’ This is a pool that was Jerusalem’s main water reservoir. It was built in the Byzantine period, and between the fourth and seventh centuries it was used by Jerusalem.

“Look at the size of this thing. Have you ever seen a pool like this? It’s huge. My dream was that we would build it, rehabilitate it, fill it with water, and it would be a global attraction,” the prime minister said.

“It starts with an idea. And then it can be something that people will come from all over the world and from all over the country to see this wonderful place,” Netanyahu said.

Lion said, “I’m very much in favor of it. I adopted what you proposed a few years ago, and we are now on the eve of Jerusalem Day. It costs money, and we’ll do everything we can to make it an efficient expense. But this place will definitely become a Jerusalem gem.”

Image - JNS/ Itai Beit On/GPO