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Jews Indignant over Wailing Wall Desecration

November 2, 1938
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Indignation swept Jewish Palestine today over Arab desecration of the Wailing Wall during the period it had been barred to worshippers. When the ban was lifted over the week-end, worshippers found sections of the wall blackened by fire, others with stones chipped as by explosions and the charred remains of worshipping appurtenances that had been set afire.

The original dispatches about the desecration, destined for abroad, as well as about a protest by the Jewish national council, were suppressed by the government censor, who said the protest had not been received. the protest, forwarded to the authorities on sunday, described the “worshippers’ bitterness at the desecration” and urged the government to increase the guard in the vicinity of the wall.

A Jewish Telegraphic Agency reporter who visited the Wall on Sunday found traces of bonfires and other evidences of desecration. the neighborhood was still without police protection and the usually well-kept precincts were l jittered. only arab s were present at the Wall and Arab urchins were sprawled in front of it, playing marbles.

Jews are barred from the Wall now except on the Sabbath, when a special police guard it provided.

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