Summary
The western exterior wall of the Harem-esh-Sherif in Jerusalem — in Arabic Al Buraq, in Hebrew Kothel Maaravi — about 30 metres of which, with the Pavement in front of it, were the subject of the 1930 international Commission’s determination of Moslem and Jewish rights and claims (Report of the Commission appointed by His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with the approval of the Council of the League of Nations, to determine the rights and claims of Moslems and Jews in connection with the Western or Wailing Wall at Jerusalem, lines 338-352).
Details
- The Wall forms an integral part of the western exterior shell of the Harem-esh-Sherif, the site of the ancient Jewish temples, now supplanted by Moslem Mosques; the western wall as a whole is over 100 metres long and about 20 metres high, its six drafted base courses dated by most archaeologists to the Temple of Herod (Report of the Commission appointed by His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with the approval of the Council of the League of Nations, to determine the rights and claims of Moslems and Jews in connection with the Western or Wailing Wall at Jerusalem, lines 342-344).
- The disputed part comprises about 30 metres; the Pavement in front of it is about 4 metres wide, bounded opposite by the houses of the Moghrabi Quarter, and is the place the Jews are in the habit of resorting to for purposes of devotion (lines 346-350). A guardian’s petition quoted by the Commission put the passage width at 2-1/2 metres (line 864); both figures are held as given on the source page.
- Within the Wall to the south is the chamber or niche in which, according to tradition, Mohammed’s steed Buraq was tethered on his celestial journey, from which the Wall is known to Moslems as Al Buraq (line 352).
- Ownership: the Commission declared that “the ownership of the Wall, as well as the possession of it and of those parts of its surroundings that are here in question, accrues to the Moslems”, the Wall itself being Moslem property as an integral part of the Haram-esh-Sherif, and the Pavement also Moslem property; the Pavement area was constituted Waqf by Afdal, son of Saladin, about 1193 (lines 780-782).
- Sacredness: the Commission accepted that the Wall as a whole, by reason of Mohammed’s visit with Al Buraq, is sacred to the Moslems, and held that this does not exclude the sanctity of the Wall to the Jews as well, who believe it represents the last remains of the old Temple and to be filled with the Divine presence; it did not consider the Pavement in front of the Wall a sacred place from a Moslem point of view (lines 796-800).
- Access: the Commission was decidedly of the opinion that the place in front of the Wall is a religious site used exclusively by adherents of the Mosaic creed, that free access to it for devotional purposes is explicitly guaranteed to the Jews by Article 13 of the Mandate, and that, irrespective of the Mandate, “the free access of the Jews to the place for devotional purposes has been recognized by the Moslems themselves as a right ab antiquo”, a right sui generis founded on ancient custom (lines 810-830).
- The form and extent of Jewish devotions at the Wall are governed, in the Commission’s opinion, by established custom of fairly long standing, not by an unqualified right to bring every appurtenance deemed fit (lines 844-882).
- The Verdict (Conclusions, lines 946-984): the Moslems hold “the sole ownership of, and the sole proprietary right to, the Western Wall” as an integral part of the Haram-esh-Sherif Waqf area, and own the Pavement and the Moghrabi Quarter; the Jews “shall have free access to the Western Wall for the purpose of devotions at all times” subject to the stipulations — the September 1929 instructions made permanent, the Ark and its tables allowed only on proclaimed fasts, New Year’s Day, the Day of Atonement and other recognised customary holy days (not ordinary Sabbaths), benches, chairs, screens, carpets and tents prohibited, the Shofar not to be blown near the Wall, no political speeches or demonstrations at the place, the Wall not to be disfigured, and its maintenance entrusted to the Palestine Administration after consultation with the Supreme Muslim Council and the Rabbinical Council for Palestine (lines 948-984).
Related pages
Report of the Commission appointed by His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with the approval of the Council of the League of Nations, to determine the rights and claims of Moslems and Jews in connection with the Western or Wailing Wall at Jerusalem, Temple Mount, Moroccan Quarter, Al-Aqsa Mosque, Waqf, Status Quo (Holy Places)