View Wailing Wall Incident Yom Kippur Infringement of Jewish Rights

(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

The incident at the Wailing Wall during Yom Kippur services, when the Jerusalem police interfered with the worshippers who resisted the removal of a screen separating the men and women, is regarded as an infringement of the rights of the Jews to have access to the Western Wall of the Temple, known as the Wailing Wall, one of the Jewish Holy Sites in Palestine.

The excitement over the incident continued yesterday in Jerusalem, Haifa and Tel Aviv where public demonstrations to voice a protest against the action of the police were planned. These demonstrations were, however, prevented on the advice of the Vaad Leumi, National Council of Palestine Jews. A reception planned by the Tel Aviv municipality for Monday evening in honor of the officers of the British warships, Eagle, Royal Oak and Valiant, anchored in Jaffa harbor, was cancelled as a protest.

A delegation consisting of Col. Frederick H. Kisch, Dr. Joshua Thon, Chief Rabbis A. J. Kook and Jacob Meir, and Messrs. Kalvarisky and Meyuchas, conferred with Acting High Commissioner H. C. Luke for two hours, in the presence of the Director of Police and members of the government. The delegation demanded that those responsible for the brutal action against the worshippers be disciplined and that a radical solution of the Wailing Wall problem be reached. The government members promised to reply to the presentations shortly.

The Jerusalem District Commissioner, in explanation and justification of the order issued by him declared that if the screen had not been removed, the excited Moslem neighbors would have thrown stones at the worshippers.

The Hebrew press today published editorials voicing the unanimous demand that action be taken immediately for the redemption of the property surrounding the Wall. The “Doar Ha’yom,” Jerusalem daily, reminds its readers that Sir Ronald Storrs, former Governor of Jerusalem, stated several year ago that there was a possibility for redeeming the property at a price of £70,000.

In a statement issued by the Zionist Executive here, it is denied that any person or persons were injured during the clash with the police. It was also stated that the Zionist Executive intends to present the matter to the League of Nations in order to obviate a recurrence of similar events in the future, by a definite solution of the problem. It was pointed out that the same screen was used by the worshippers at the Wailing Wall on Rosh Hashanah and that no opposition was voiced at that time.