East Jerusalem opens first public swimming pool with $20 million fitness center

East Jerusalem's first public swimming pool opened at a $20 million community sports center in Beit Hanina. The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Sports Center includes gyms and fitness studios. Mayor Moshe Lion said the facility will help narrow the infrastructure gap between eastern and western neighborhoods. The project was initiated by the municipality with partners including the Jerusalem and Jewish Tradition Ministry and the Israel Lottery.

East Jerusalem residents now have their first public swimming pool, following the opening of a $20 million, 5,000-square-meter community sports center in the northern neighborhood of Beit Hanina last week. The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Sports Center includes gyms, fitness studios and communal spaces, providing greater access to sports activities and recreational programs, the Jerusalem municipality said. Mayor Moshe Lion said at a launch ceremony that the facility will help narrow the gap between the city's eastern and western neighborhoods. Infrastructure development in East Jerusalem, whose population is mostly Arab, is far below that in Jewish parts of the city, activists say. The inauguration is part of a wider push to expand public infrastructure in East Jerusalem, including a new educational campus in Shuafat, the Kidron Valley Park in Sheikh Jarrah, and a welfare center in Wadi al-Joz. The project was initiated by the municipality in partnership with the Jerusalem and Jewish Tradition Ministry, the Israel Lottery, and the Jerusalem Foundation, with support from the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation. Wassim al-Hajj, director of the Beit Hanina community administration, said the center addresses a real need that had not been met until now.