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Source: https://jcfa.org/solomons-pools-how-the-palestinian-authority-neglected-a-historical-treasure/
The PA's Neglect of Solomon's Pools
(Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs) Lt.-Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch - South of Bethlehem are Solomon's Pools, part of an extensive water infrastructure originating in the Judean hills that supplied water to the Jewish Temples in Jerusalem. In the Oslo Accords, Judea and Samaria were divided between the Palestinian Authority and Israel into three areas of jurisdiction - Areas A, B and C. The Oslo Accords never envisaged a situation in which Areas A and B would be off limits to Israelis. Rather, the accords included specific provisions regarding both the treatment of Israelis in those areas and the manner in which the PA treated Jewish historical sites therein. The Israeli authors of the accords certainly did not anticipate a situation in which this area would become dominated by hostile PA forces and other Palestinian terrorist organizations, and that almost every entry of a Jew into those areas would potentially be accompanied by mortal danger. The danger is only to Israeli Jews. Israeli Arabs are free to enter, study, and even live in Areas A and B. Solomon's Pools are located within Area A. However, being given jurisdiction and control of a historical site, which by its very name pays constant witness to the historical connection of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel, was particularly problematic for the PA. It chose to ignore the site and let it fall into disrepair. The constant PA neglect of the site has led to repeated Israeli calls to retake control of it. The writer, former director of the Military Prosecution in Judea and Samaria, is director of the Palestinian Authority Accountability Initiative at the Jerusalem Center.