Editing Western Wall (section)

==Ideological views==
===Jewish===
[[File:A man prays at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.jpg|thumb|right|A Jew praying at the Western Wall]]

Most Jews, religious and secular, consider the wall to be important to the Jewish people since it was originally built to hold the [[Second Temple]]. They consider the capture of the wall by Israel in 1967 as a historic event since it restored Jewish access to the site after a 19-year gap.<ref name=TOS>[[Berel Wein|Wein, Berel]]. ''Triumph of Survival''; Section VIII – The Modern Jew 1958–1988, p. 451.</ref>

Israeli philosopher [[Yeshayahu Leibowitz]] referred to the attitude towards the Western Wall as "idolatry"<ref name="huffpost.com">{{Cite web|author= Goshen-Gottstein, Alon|title=Is the Western Wall a Kind of Idolatry?|date=June 26, 2017|publisher=Huffington Post|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/is-the-western-wall-a-kind-of-idolatry_b_59515459e4b0c85b96c65ba1|access-date=July 16, 2023}}</ref> and publicly decried the Israelis' triumphalism following the 1967 victory.<ref>{{cite news |last= Leibovitz |first= Liel |title= Stop Yeshayahu Leibowitz! By failing to name a street after the controversial philosopher, the city of Jerusalem proved he was right |work= Tablet Magazine |date= 11 April 2013 |url= https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/129034/stop-yeshayahu-leibowitz |access-date=2 August 2019}}</ref>

[[Dan Bahat]], former district archaeologist of Jerusalem who headed the Western Wall Tunnel excavations in the years 1986–2007, decried in 2018 the transformation of this iconic historical site into a regulated place of worship: "The Western Wall is sacrosanct. But out of a national monument, it has become a synagogue."<ref name= DB>[https://www.timesofisrael.com/is-evidence-of-temples-destruction-being-destroyed-by-a-bid-for-jewish-unity/ "Is evidence of Temple’s destruction being destroyed by a bid for Jewish unity?"] Amanda Borschel-Dan for ''The Times of Israel'', 22 July 2018. Retrieved 8 Oct 2024.</ref>

===Israeli===
A poll carried out in 2007 by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies indicated that 96% of [[Israeli Jews]] were against Israel relinquishing the Western Wall.<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/858755.html
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070515064905/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/858755.html
| url-status=dead
| archive-date=May 15, 2007
| title=Poll: 96% of Israeli Jews won't give up Western Wall for peace
| last=Shargai
| first=Nadav
| access-date=March 4, 2008
| date=May 14, 2007
| newspaper=[[Haaretz]]
}}</ref> 

[[Yitzhak Reiter]] writes that "the Islamization and de-Judaization of the Western Wall are a recurrent motif in publications and public statements by the heads of the Islamic Movement in Israel."<ref name= Reiter08>{{cite book |author= Yitzhak Reiter |title= Jerusalem and its role in Islamic solidarity |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=20rYAAAAMAAJ |access-date= June 10, 2011|year= 2008 |publisher= Palgrave Macmillan |isbn= 978-0-230-60782-8 |page= 57}}</ref>

===Muslim===
[[File:Jerusalem Dome of the rock BW 12.JPG|thumb|Western Wall and Dome of the Rock]]

In December 1973, King [[Faisal of Saudi Arabia]] stated that "Only Muslims and Christians have holy places and rights in Jerusalem". The Jews, he maintained, had no rights there at all. As for the Western Wall, he said, "Another wall can be built for them. They can pray against that".<ref>{{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/ 233]
| chapter= Annexation
|url=https://archive.org/details/dividedjerusalem0000wass/page/
}}
</ref>

===Palestinian===
The [[Palestinian National Authority]]'s State Information Service (SIS) stated as fact that the Jews did not consider the Wall as a place for worship until after the [[Balfour Declaration]] was issued in 1917.<ref>{{cite web |title= Alburaq Revolution |website= The Nakba |publisher= State Information Service of the [[Palestinian National Authority]] |url= http://nakba.sis.gov.ps/english/British-mandate/Alburaq%20Revolution.html |access-date= December 7, 2007 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20040715114020/http://nakba.sis.gov.ps/english/British-mandate/Alburaq%20Revolution.html |archive-date= July 15, 2004}}</ref>

In 2006, Dr. Hassan Khader, founder of the [[Al Quds Encyclopedia]], told PA television that the first connection of the Jews to the Wall is "a recent one, which began in the 16th century...not ancient...like the roots of the Islamic connection".<ref>{{cite web 
|last= Klein 
|first= Aaron 
|title= Quick Takes: News From Israel You May Have Missed 
|date= October 25, 2006
|publisher= [[The Jewish Press]] 
|url= https://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/quick-takes-news-from-israel-you-may-have-missed-51/2006/10/25/
|access-date= March 11, 2013}}</ref>

The [[Mufti of Jerusalem]], Sheikh [[Ekrima Sa'id Sabri]] said in 2007 that "there never was a Jewish temple on the Temple Mount" and that "there is not a single stone with any relation at all to the history of the Hebrews."<ref>{{cite news |title='Western Wall was never part of temple' |url=https://www.jpost.com/israel/western-wall-was-never-part-of-temple |access-date=8 January 2024 |publisher=The Jerusalem Post |date=25 October 2007}}</ref>

In November 2010, an official paper published by the PA Ministry of Information denied Jewish rights to the Wall. It stated that "Al-Buraq Wall is in fact the western wall of Al-Aksa Mosque" and that Jews had only started using the site for worship after the 1917 Balfour Declaration.<ref>[[Khaled Abu Toameh]]. [http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=196329 Jews have no right to Western Wall, PA 'study' says], ''Jerusalem Post'', November 22, 2010.</ref>

===American===
[[File:President Trump visit to Israel, May 2017 DSC 3714OSD (34019020653).jpg|thumb|U.S. president [[Donald Trump]] (right) visits the Western Wall, accompanied by Rabbi [[Shmuel Rabinovitch]] (center), 2017]]

While recognizing the difficulties inherent in any ultimate peace agreement that involves the status of Jerusalem, the official position of the United States includes a recognition of the importance of the Wall to the Jewish people, and has condemned statements that seek to "delegitimize" the relationship between Jews and the area in general, and the Western Wall in particular. For example, in November 2010, the [[Barack Obama|Obama]] administration "strongly condemned a Palestinian official's claim that the Western Wall in the Old City has no religious significance for Jews and is actually Muslim property." The U.S. State Department noted that the United States rejects such a claim as "factually incorrect, insensitive and highly provocative."<ref name="cleveland">[https://www.cleveland.com/world/2010/11/us_condemns_palestinian_claim.html U.S. condemns Palestinian claim on Western Wall of Temple Mount], Cleveland.com, retrieved March 27, 2011.</ref>