Scholars Spur Search for Moslem Records on Wailing Wall

Professor J. Azhar of the University of Cairo, noted Arabic historian, has been asked by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem to search the Moslem records in Jerusalem regarding the Wailing Wall, which has again become an important issue here with the arrival of the Wailing Wall Commission which will start its examination Monday into the Moslem and Jewish claims to the Wall. Issak Darwish, superintendent of the Moslem schools, has been sent to Damascus to search records there on the Wailing Wall.

Although unable to travel to Jerusalem for the Wailing Wall Commission, Dr. Cyrus Adler, president of the American Jewish Committee and of the Jewish Theological Seminary, who has forwarded a detailed memorandum on the Wailing Wall to Jerusalem, Geneva and London in his capacity as chairman of the Jewish Agency’s Wailing Wall Commission, will go to Geneva if the Wailing Wall Commission holds hearings there after its return from Palestine, the Hebrew daily, “Davar,” reports.

In an endeavor to impress the Wailing Wall Commissioners with the sanctity of the Wall in Moslem eyes the Moslem Supreme Council has draped the top of the Wall facing the Mosque of Omar enclosure with carpets and has hung a sacramental light there giving the impression of a shrine. This is an unprecedented action.

Inquiries in New York by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency indicated that Dr. Adler will leave for Geneva July 16 in order to be present at any hearings there that the Wailing Wall Commission may decide to hold. He will be prepared to answer any questions on his memorandum and to discuss it or defend it before the Commission.