The report in yesterday’s “New York Evening World” from its foreign correspondent, Pierre Van Paassen, to the effect that Baron Edmond de Rothschild, head of the Paris branch of this famous family, had made a proposal to buy the land on which the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem stands, is absolutely unfounded, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency learns following an investigation of the report.
The “Evening World’s” correspondent also reported that this was the second offer of Baron Rothschild to purchase the site of the Wailing Wall. This, too, is inaccurate, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency learns.
The first proposal of Baron Rothschild in connection with the Wailing Wall was not to buy the Wall itself but an offer to buy the territory adjacent to it on which stand a number of dingy buildings occupied by the Mughrabi Wakf. These buildings, which are within the Haram area, form a sort of enclosure around the Wailing Wall. A similar proposal was also made by Sir Moses Montefiore, the distinguished English-Jewish philanthropist.
The proposal was repeated in the memorandum on the Wailing Wall presented on behalf of the Jews to the Wailing Wall Commission which recently completed its investigation into the claims of the Moslems and Jews to this ancient vestige of the Temple of Solomon.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
