Chief Rabbi Kook has received a letter from the Society for the Defense of the Mosque, “Aksa,” purporting to represent the views of 1,000 Arabs from Palestine. Transjordania and Syria who met in Jerusalem on November 14. They resolved not to permit any further organized Jewish worship at the Wailing Wall.
The letter claims that the Wall is a purely Moslem religious site and while it grants that the Jews, like all other persons, have the right to pay simple visits, it states that “any ceremony or the installation of objects or the raising of the voice constitutes an encroachment on Arab religious rights on the part of either the government or the Jews.”
According to this letter the meeting reproved the government’s temporary regulations with regard to the Wailing Wall and demanded their cancellation and the establishment “of the previous state of affairs.” The letter also threatens that if the Jews disobey, the (Continued on Page 2)
The letter says in part, “We swear by God to carry our demands into force and place all responsibility which might ensue thereof upon the government. For the sake of peace and public security we deem it a duty to communicate this to you so that you may take steps to prevent the Jews from encroaching upon and passing beyond the limits granted by the Moslems. If you fail to do so the resolution will be carried into force by all legal means.”
The letter was signed by Mohammed Said Ul Dash Kaleeb.
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.
