Editing Western Wall (section)

====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>