page_title: Birket Israel
hierarchical_section_title: Birket Israel
caption_attribution_description: English: Birket Israel, Jerusalem (previously known as Pool of Bethesda)
context_page_description: Birket Israel also Birket Israil or Birket Isra'in, abbreviated from Birket Beni Israìl was a public cistern located on the north-eastern corner of the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem. The structure is believed to have been built by the Romans for use as a water reservoir and also to protect the northern wall of the Temple Mount. Arab locals have known it by this name since at least 1857.
  By the mid-19th century it had gone out of use as a reservoir; being partly filled with rubbish and reused as a vegetable garden. In 1934 it was filled in and is now known as el-Ghazali Square. It is currently in mixed use for shops, as a car park, and as a transshipment point for refuse.
context_section_description: Birket Israel (trans. Pool of Israel) also Birket Israil or Birket Isra'in, abbreviated from Birket Beni Israìl (trans. Pool of the Children of Israel) was a public cistern located on the north-eastern corner of the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem. The structure is believed to have been built by the Romans for use as a water reservoir and also to protect the northern wall of the Temple Mount. Arab locals have known it by this name since at least 1857.
  By the mid-19th century it had gone out of use as a reservoir; being partly filled with rubbish and reused as a vegetable garden. In 1934 it was filled in and is now known as el-Ghazali Square. It is currently in mixed use for shops, as a car park, and as a transshipment point for refuse.
caption: The empty reservoir in the late 19th century
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image DateTime": "2009:02:02 23:49:35", "Image ExifOffset": "2142", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "1/96", "Thumbnail YResolution": "1/96", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4360", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "2158", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "CF81605299BE4A6A975E4EEC7220B1D6", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}