Three ancient reservoirs in Israel’s biblical heartland associated with King Solomon will be opened to the public next week during the Passover holiday for the first time since the Oslo Accords three decades ago.
Solomon’s Pools, located about two miles southwest of Bethlehem, fall under the control of the Palestinian Authority according to the failed 1990s peace accord.
The pools provided the water for two aqueducts that delivered water to Jerusalem during the late Second Temple period.
The impressive pools are named and traditionally associated with King Solomon and linked to the passage in the Book of Ecclesiastes 2:6: “I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees.”
The rare tour, which has been approved by the Israeli military and includes bulletproof buses and a short walk, is being carried out at the initiative of the Kfar Etzion Field School and Gush Etzion Tourism.
Separately, border-area tours of the Syrian side of the Golan Heights during the weeklong Passover holiday are scheduled to get underway next week.
The Golan tours, which are completely sold out, come four months after Israeli forces took up defensive positions on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon shortly after rebels ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad in December and the area became a closed military zone.