Zionist Executive Replies to Palestine Government on Wailing Wall

The Zionist Executive this afternoon issued a statement in connection with the disturbances at the Wailing Wall. apparently in reply to the official communique of the Palestine government, in which the Jewish youth demonstration on Tisha B’Ab was compared to the Moslems’ invasion of the Wailing Wall area the following day.

The Zionist Executive declares that the Tisha B’Ab demonstration was composed mainly of Jewish youths who marched to the Western Wall of the Temple in Jerusalem under the escort of the police. There they read resolutions previously adopted in Tel Aviv protesting against the failure of the Palestine government to safeguard the Jewish right to free and undisturbed worship at the Wall as the Palestine Mandate guarantees. The police were present during the reading of the resolutions, which were also formally communicated to the Chief Secretary of the Palestine government, the demonstration passing without an incident.

The Zionist Executive emphasizes in its statement that the demonstration, though perhaps ill-advised, was the result of repeated provocation. It ### the character of an orderly pro### against the Zionist authorities for then failure to secure a more effective action on the government’s part. The demonstration was not intended as an act of hostility toward the Arab, the

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statement declares. Friday being a Moslem holiday, the government permitted an Arab demonstration, although it knew beforehand that the objective of this demonstration was the Wailing Wall, a fact which clearly stamped the demonstration as calculated to produce collision with the Jewish worshippers and leading to a breach of the peace. This the police were unable to prevent, resulting in the fact that the Jewish worshippers were obliged to flee from the Wall, while the beadle was assaulted. Hundreds of Arabs poured out from the Mosque of Omar area, some forcing their way through the recently opened door, establishing a direct communication from the Haram to the Wall. A number of prayerbooks and petitions were burned. Not a single arrest was made during the events. On Saturday morning, during prayers, a continuous procession of Arabs passed the Wall, utilizing the new doorway and seriously disturbing the worshippers, although the police endeavored to regulate the traffic. Only at eleven o’clock on Saturday morning, after the Zionist Executive made new representations to the Palestine government, did the police stop the nuisance.

Jewish feelings are greatly disturbed by the events and by the tendency apparent in the government communique to draw an analogy between the Arab demonstrations, which resulted in the desecration of the holiest Jewish place of worship, and the exercise of the traditional right of Jews to assemble at the Wall on Tisha B’Ab, even though such assembly was accompanied by a peaceful and orderly protest against the violation of Jewish religious rights, the Zionist Executive declares in its statement.