Editing Western Wall (section)

===British rule (1917–1948)===
[[File:Jewish legion hakotel 1917.jpg|thumb|right|[[Jewish Legion]] soldiers at the Western Wall after British conquest of Jerusalem, 1917]]
[[File:Historical images of the Western Wall - 1920 C SR 016b.JPG|thumb|right|1920. From the collection of the [[National Library of Israel]]]]

In December 1917, Allied forces under [[Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby|Edmund Allenby]] [[Battle of Jerusalem (1917)|captured Jerusalem]] from the Turks. Allenby pledged "that every sacred building, monument, holy spot, shrine, traditional site, endowment, pious bequest, or customary place of prayer of whatsoever form of the three religions will be maintained and protected according to the existing customs and beliefs of those to whose faith they are sacred".<ref>{{cite book |last=Janin |first=Hunt |title=Four Paths to Jerusalem |year=2002 |publisher=[[McFarland & Company|McFarland]] |isbn=0-7864-1264-X |page=192 |chapter=Pilgrimages During the British Mandate and Under the Israelis (1917–2001)
|url=https://archive.org/details/fourpathstojerus0000jani/page/}}</ref>

In 1919 Zionist leader [[Chaim Weizmann]] approached the British Military Governor of Jerusalem, Colonel [[Sir Ronald Storrs]], and offered between £75,000<ref name=MG>{{cite book |last=Gilbert |first=Martin |author-link=Martin Gilbert |title=Jerusalem in the Twentieth Century |year=1996 |publisher=[[Chatto & Windus]] |location=London |isbn=0-7011-3070-9 |page=69 |chapter=British Military Rule, 1918–1919}}</ref> and £100,000<ref name=BW>{{cite book |last=Wasserstein |first=Bernard |title=Divided Jerusalem |year=2001 |publisher=[[Profile Books]] |location=London |isbn=1-86197-333-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/dividedjerusalem0000wass/page/ 323] |chapter=Trouble on the Temple Mount|url=https://archive.org/details/dividedjerusalem0000wass/page/}}</ref> (approx. £5m in modern terms) to purchase the area at the foot of the Wall and rehouse the occupants. Storrs was enthusiastic about the idea because he hoped some of the money would be used to improve Muslim education. Although they appeared promising at first, negotiations broke down after strong Muslim opposition.<ref name=BW/><ref>{{cite book |last=Shepherd |first=Naomi |title=Ploughing Sand: British Rule in Palestine |year=1999 |publisher=[[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]] |location=London |isbn=0-7195-5707-0 |page=42 |chapter=From Conquest to Colony}}</ref> Storrs wrote two decades later:
<blockquote>The acceptance of the proposals, had it been practicable, would have obviated years of wretched humiliations, including the befouling of the Wall and pavement and the unmannerly braying of the tragi-comic Arab band during Jewish prayer, and culminating in the horrible outrages of 1929.<ref name=MG /></blockquote>

In early 1920, the first Jewish-Arab dispute over the Wall occurred when the Muslim authorities were carrying out minor repair works to the Wall's upper courses. The Jews, while agreeing that the works were necessary, appealed to the British that they be made under supervision of the newly formed Department of Antiquities, because the Wall was an ancient relic.<ref>{{harvnb|Gonen|2003|p=}}</ref>

According to Hillel Halkin, in the 1920s, among rising tensions with the Jews regarding the wall, the Arabs ceased using the more traditional name El-Mabka, "the Place of Weeping", which related to Jewish practices, and replaced it with El-Burak, a name with Muslim connotations.<ref name=Halkin01 />

In 1926 an effort was made to lease the Maghrebi ''waqf'', which included the wall, with the plan of eventually buying it.<ref name=BWbook>{{cite book |author=Bernhard Wasserstein |title=The British in Palestine |year=1978 |publisher=Royal Historical Society |place=London |pages=224–227}}</ref> Negotiations were begun in secret by the Jewish judge [[Gad Frumkin]], with financial backing from American millionaire [[Nathan Straus]].<ref name=BWbook /> The chairman of the Palestine Zionist Executive, Colonel [[F. H. Kisch]], explained that the aim was "quietly to evacuate the Moroccan occupants of those houses which it would later be necessary to demolish" to create an open space with seats for aged worshippers to sit on.<ref name=BWbook /> However, Straus withdrew when the price became excessive and the plan came to nothing.<ref>{{cite book |author=Tom Segev |title=One Palestine, Complete |page=301 |publisher=Abacus |year=2001}}</ref> The [[Va'ad Leumi]], against the advice of the Palestine Zionist Executive, demanded that the British expropriate the wall and give it to the Jews, but the British refused.<ref name=BWbook />

In 1928 the [[World Zionist Organization]] reported that [[John Chancellor (British administrator)|John Chancellor]], High Commissioner of Palestine, believed that the Western Wall should come under Jewish control and wondered "why no great Jewish philanthropist had not bought it yet".<ref>{{cite book |last=Shepherd |first=Naomi |title=Ploughing Sand: British Rule in Palestine |year=1999 |publisher=[[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]] |location=London |isbn=0-7195-5707-0 |page=11 |chapter=The Law Factory}}</ref>

====September 1928 disturbances====
In 1922, a Status Quo agreement issued by the mandatory authority forbade the placing of benches or chairs near the Wall. The last occurrence of such a ban was in 1915, but the Ottoman decree was soon retracted after intervention of the [[Chacham Bashi]]. In 1928 the District Commissioner of Jerusalem, [[Edward Keith-Roach]], acceded to an Arab request to implement the ban. This led to a British officer being stationed at the Wall making sure that Jews were prevented from sitting. Nor were Jews permitted to separate the sexes with a screen. In practice, a flexible [[modus vivendi]] had emerged and such screens had been put up from time to time when large numbers of people gathered to pray.
[[File:Kotel jerusalem.jpg|thumb|upright|The placing of a ''[[Mechitza]]'' similar to the one in the picture was the catalyst for confrontation between the Arabs, Jews and Mandate authorities in 1928.]]

On September 24, 1928, the [[Yom Kippur|Day of Atonement]], British police resorted to removing by force a [[Mechitza|screen]] used to separate men and women at prayer. Women who tried to prevent the screen being dismantled were beaten by the police, who used pieces of the broken wooden frame as clubs. Chairs were then pulled out from under elderly worshipers. The episode made international news and Jews the world over objected to the British action. [[Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld]], the Chief Rabbi of the [[Haredi]] Jews in Jerusalem, issued a protest letter on behalf of his community, the [[Edah HaChareidis]] and [[World Agudath Israel|Agudas Yisroel]], strongly condemning the desecration of the holy site. Various communal leaders called for a general strike. A large rally was held in the [[Etz Chaim Yeshiva]], following which an angry crowd attacked the local police station in which they believed [[Douglas Valder Duff]], the British officer involved, was sheltering.<ref name=GoJ>{{cite book |last=Danziger |first=Hillel |title=Guardian of Jerusalem |year=1990 |publisher=[[Artscroll]]|location=New York |isbn=0-89906-458-2 |pages=452–470 |chapter=The Kosel Affair}}</ref>

Commissioner Edward Keith-Roach described the screen as violating the [[Status Quo (Jerusalem and Bethlehem)|Ottoman status quo]] that forbade Jews from making any construction in the Western Wall area. He informed the Jewish community that the removal had been carried out under his orders after receiving a complaint from the [[Supreme Muslim Council]]. The Arabs were concerned that the Jews were trying to extend their rights at the wall and with this move, ultimately intended to take possession of the [[Temple Mount|Masjid Al-Aqsa]].<ref name=PYIL>{{cite book |last=Kassim |first=Anis F. |title=The Palestine Yearbook of International Law 1996–1997 |year=1998 |publisher=Martinus Nijhoff |isbn=90-411-1009-7 |page=375 |chapter=Special Report}}</ref> The British government issued an announcement explaining the incident and blaming the Jewish [[gabbai|beadle]] at the Wall. It stressed that the removal of the screen was necessary, but expressed regret over the ensuing events.<ref name=GoJ/>

A widespread Arab campaign to protest against presumed Jewish intentions and designs to take possession of the Al Aqsa Mosque swept the country and a "Society for the Protection of the Muslim Holy Places" was established.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kayyālī |first=Abd al-Wahhāb |title=Palestine: A Modern History |year=1978 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=0-85664-635-0 |page=139 |chapter=The Lull: 1923–1929}}</ref> The [[Jewish National Council]] (Vaad Leumi) responding to these Arab fears declared in a statement that "We herewith declare emphatically and sincerely that no Jew has ever thought of encroaching upon the rights of Moslems over their own Holy places, but our Arab brethren should also recognise the rights of Jews in regard to the places in Palestine which are holy to them."<ref name=PYIL /> The committee also demanded that the British administration expropriate the wall for the Jews.<ref name=OR>{{cite book |last=Ovendale |first=Ritchie |title=The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Wars |year=2004 |publisher=Pearson Education |isbn=0-582-82320-X |page=71 |chapter=British Paramountcy over Arabs and Zionists}}</ref>

From October 1928 onward, Mufti [[Amin al-Husayni]] organised a series of measures to demonstrate the Arabs' exclusive claims to the Temple Mount and its environs. He ordered new construction next to and above the Western Wall.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dershowitz |first=Alan |author-link=Alan Dershowitz |title=The Case For Israel |year=2003 |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |location=[[Hoboken, New Jersey]] |isbn=0-471-46502-X |page=43 |chapter=5: Were the Jews Unwilling to Share Palestine?
|url=https://archive.org/details/caseforisraelders00ders}}</ref> The British granted the Arabs permission to convert a building adjoining the Wall into a mosque and to add a minaret. A [[muezzin]] was appointed to perform the [[adhan|Islamic call to prayer]] and [[dhikr|Sufi rites]] directly next to the Wall. These were seen as a provocation by the Jews who prayed at the Wall.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ovendale |first=Ritchie |title=The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Wars |year=2004 |publisher=[[Pearson Education]] |isbn=0-582-82320-X |page=71 |chapter=The "Wailing Wall" Riots |quote=The Mufti tried to establish Muslim rights and the Jews were deliberately antagonised by building works and noise.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Harman |first=Graham |title=A History of Palestine |year=2008 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn=978-0-691-11897-0 |page=230 |chapter=The Mufti and the Wailing Wall |quote=From 1929 onward, the Supreme Muslim Council intensified construction work on the Haram al-Sharif in order to demonstrate their exclusive claims to the Temple Mount (...) Not without reason, Jewish believers felt disturbed in their prayer. |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofpalesti00krea/page/}}</ref> The Jews protested and tensions increased.
[[File:Western Wall Jerusalem 1933.jpg|thumb|upright|British police post at the entrance to the Western Wall, 1933]]
[[File:British police wailing wall1.jpg|thumb|upright|British police at the Wailing Wall, 1934]]

A British inquiry into the disturbances and investigation regarding the principal issue in the Western Wall dispute, namely the rights of the Jewish worshipers to bring appurtenances to the wall, was convened. The Supreme Muslim Council provided documents dating from the Turkish regime supporting their claims. However, repeated reminders to the Chief Rabbinate to verify which apparatus had been permitted failed to elicit any response. They refused to do so, arguing that Jews had the right to pray at the Wall without restrictions.<ref name=VI>{{cite book |last1=Ben Dov |first1=Meir |last2=Naor |first2=Mordechai |last3=Aner |first3=Ze'ev |title=The Western Wall |year=1983 |publisher=Ministry of Defence Publishing House |location=[[Israel]] |isbn=965-05-0055-3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/westernwall00bend/page/ 123–137] |chapter=VI: The Struggle for the Wall |url=https://archive.org/details/westernwall00bend/page/}}</ref> Subsequently, in November 1928, the Government issued a White Paper entitled "The Western or Wailing Wall in Jerusalem: Memorandum by the Secretary of State for the Colonies", which emphasised the maintenance of the ''status quo'' and instructed that Jews could only bring "those accessories which had been permitted in Turkish times."<ref>{{cite web |title='File 15/18 Foreign and Political Department Circulars Received From the Govt of India' IOR/R/15/2/1461|url=http://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100023731157.0x000010|publisher=Qatar Digital Library|date=August 29, 2014}}</ref>

A few months later, Haj Amin complained to [[John Chancellor (British administrator)|Chancellor]] that "Jews were bringing benches and tables in increased numbers to the wall and driving nails into the wall and hanging lamps on them."<ref>{{cite book |last=Kayyālī |first=Abd al-Wahhāb |title=Palestine: A Modern History |year=1978 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=0-85664-635-0 |page=140 |chapter=The Lull: 1923–1929}}</ref>

====1929 Palestine riots====
:{{Main|1929 Palestine riots}}
In the summer of 1929, the Mufti [[Amin al-Husseini|Haj Amin Al Husseinni]] ordered an opening be made at the southern end of the alleyway which straddled the Wall. The former cul-de-sac became a thoroughfare which led from the Temple Mount into the prayer area at the Wall. Mules were herded through the narrow alley, often dropping excrement. This, together with other construction projects in the vicinity, and restricted access to the Wall, resulted in Jewish protests to the British, who remained indifferent.<ref name=VI />

On August 14, 1929, after attacks on individual Jews praying at the Wall, 6,000 Jews demonstrated in Tel Aviv, shouting "The Wall is ours." The next day, the Jewish fast of [[Tisha B'Av]], 300 youths raised the Zionist flag and sang [[Hatikva]] at the Wall.<ref name=OR /> The day after, on August 16, an organized mob of 2,000 Muslim Arabs descended on the Western Wall, injuring the beadle and burning prayer books, liturgical fixtures and notes of supplication. The rioting spread to the Jewish commercial area of town, and was followed a few days later by the [[1929 Hebron massacre|Hebron massacre]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Gilbert |first=Martin |author-link=Martin Gilbert |title=Jerusalem llustrated History Atlas |year=1977 |publisher=[[Board of Deputies of British Jews]] |location=London |isbn=0-905648-04-8 |page=79 |chapter=Jerusalem, Zionism and the Arab Revolt 1920–1940}}</ref> One hundred and thirty-three Jews were killed and 339 injured in the Arab riots, and in the subsequent process of quelling the riots 110 Arabs were killed by British police. This was by far the deadliest attack on Jews during the period of British Rule over Palestine.

====1930 international commission====
{{Main|International Commission for the Wailing Wall}}
In 1930, in response to the 1929 riots, the British Government appointed a commission "to determine the rights and claims of Muslims and Jews in connection with the Western or Wailing Wall", and to determine the causes of the violence and prevent it in the future. The [[League of Nations]] approved the commission on condition that the members were not British.

The Commission noted that "the Jews do not claim any proprietorship to the Wall or to the Pavement in front of it (concluding speech of Jewish Counsel, Minutes, page 908)."
[[File:Anglo-American Committee at the Western Wall.jpg|thumb|Members of the [[Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry]] at the Western Wall, 1946]]

The Commission concluded that the wall, and the adjacent pavement and Moroccan Quarter, were solely owned by the Muslim ''[[Jerusalem Islamic Waqf|waqf]]''. However, Jews had the right to "free access to the Western Wall for the purpose of devotions at all times", subject to some stipulations that limited which objects could be brought to the Wall and forbade the blowing of the [[shofar]], which was made illegal. Muslims were forbidden to disrupt Jewish devotions by driving animals or other means.<ref name=report1930/>

The recommendations of the Commission were brought into law by the Palestine (Western or Wailing Wall) Order in Council, 1931, which came into effect on June 8, 1931.<ref name=Gaz31>Palestine (Western or Wailing Wall) Order in Council, 1931, ''Official Gazette of the Government of Palestine, Gazette Extraordinary'' (Suppl. No. 8/1931), June 8, 1931, pp. 464–468; also printed in ''The Palestine Yearbook of International Law'', Vol. 9, Iss. 1, pp. 411ff.</ref> Persons violating the law were liable to a fine of 50 pounds or imprisonment up to 6 months, or both.<ref name=Gaz31 />

During the 1930s, at the conclusion of Yom Kippur, young Jews persistently flouted the shofar ban each year and blew the shofar resulting in their arrest and prosecution. They were usually fined or sentenced to imprisonment for three to six months. The Shaw commission determined that the violence occurred due to "racial animosity on the part of the Arabs, consequent upon the disappointment of their political and national aspirations and fear for their economic future."