Who should pay for the water drunk by visitors to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem? 

The church should, according to a new decision by the city’s water company.

From the Jerusalem Post:

“We are providing water to the pilgrims and tourist for free,” says doorkeeper Jawal Hussein. “It’s not fair. We should not have to pay.”
Slumped on a small stone bench at the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Hussein reflected on reports that the Jerusalem water company had decided to end a centuries-old tradition and is now demanding the church pay for its water.
Gihon, the public water company in Jerusalem, has also reportedly demanded the church pay its back bill dating to 1967, when Israel assumed control of east Jerusalem and the walled Old City from the Jordanians. According to AsiaNews.it, a Christian news site, the decision would break a tradition honored by both the British and Jordanian rulers who had controlled the site in the past century.

There is, however, a significant problem: who do they send the bill to?  There is no single authority over the property, and the various church groups are hardly able to work things out between them. 

There is also the question of fairness.

A Franciscan monk aiding a group of pilgrims from South Korea through the church paused to contemplate the water bill.

“I have heard about it but I don’t understand why the government wants to discriminate against us,” said the monk, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter. “Are the synagogues and the mosques paying?” “We are doing a favor to the pilgrims and tourists,” he added. “The government must be earning something from [their visit]. We are doing them a favor.”
“But if the synagogues and mosque have to pay, then I guess we have to pay as well,” the monk added.
The Gihon water company issued a statement saying that they have not, “as of this moment,” cut off the water supplies of any religious institution.
It added that it was charging a standard price of about $4 dollars per cubic meter for water from all religious institutions in the Old City, including mosques, synagogues and churches.
“It should be stressed that this is a uniform fee for all,” the statement said.

Is this true?  Does the rabbinate pay for the water that comes from the fountains at the Western Wall? 

It seems to me that the rules should be the same for the two places, as both are religious landmarks freely open to the public.  

Jerusalem’s Festival of Light ends this week.  Arutz-7 reports:

Traveling from all over the country to witness the artistic display, Israelis enjoyed strolling in and around the ancient walled Old City June 10-16, viewing light displays which were, for the most part, free of charge.  For a fee, visitors could enjoy the opening ceremony — The Light Concert in Sultan’s Pool — opposite the Old City walls and thousands did so. The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra played light classical music while lights beamed towards the sky in time to it bounced back from the clouds.  The players were bathed in myriad colors of shimmering lights. The program began with an orchestrated medley of songs of Jerusalem and included a surprise–simultaneous fireworks and beams of light  during the playing of Tschaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. . Flautist Noam Buchman played "From the top of Mount Scopus" as the finale.

See the article for a dozen photos.

The Vatican will not be taking control of the Upper Room (Room of Last Supper, Coenaculum) according to this report in Arutz-7:

Israel National News has learned that the Last Supper Room is off the negotiating table, at least for now, in talks between Israel and the Vatican orchestrated by Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon.
[…]
One of the most difficult points of contention between Israel and the Vatican is the question of who controls the Last Supper Room. The room is said to mark the burial site of Kings Solomon and Hezekiah, and is also located in the same structure that houses the tomb of King David. Further complicating the matter is the fact that the building is known as the oldest Catholic church in the world, and has also served as a synagogue and as a mosque — in fact, Muslim inscriptions can still be seen on its walls. To simplify matters, the Last Supper Room was taken out of the agreement. “We basically reached the principle that it will not be part of this agreement,” the source said. “We have wanted the status quo, and they have wanted sovereignty,” since negotiations began 11 years ago. “At this point, it will not be discussed as part of this agreement, which is progress.”
Progress was also apparently made on the issue of Israel’s right to expropriate land when necessary, albeit not without some caveats. The status quo was maintained on most of the 21 disputed properties in the Land of Israel, but there were six outstanding exceptions in which Israel has allegedly agreed not to confiscate land “unless there is an extreme need”: the Mount of Beatitudes, Tabha, Capernaum, the Church of the Annunciation, Mt. Tabor and the Garden of Gethsemane. “Obviously if there is a security situation, the State of Israel can expropriate, as is the sovereign right of any nation,” the source said. “After 11 years, that’s real progress,” he said.

The full story is here.