THE WAILING WALL.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 284, 30 November 1928, Page 7

THE WAILING WALL.

Jew-Moslem Disppte Becomes Political. COMPLICATED ISSUE. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, November 29. The dispute which arose at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem on the Day of Atonement (September 24), is discussed in a memorandum issued by the Secretary of State for the Dominions and Colonies, Mr. L. S. Amery. This says the Wailing Wall formed part of the western exterior of The Temple, and is holy to the Jewish community. The wall is also part of the Haram esh Sherif, and as such is holy to Moslems. Moreover, legally, it is absolutely the property of the Moslem community. On September 23 a complaint was made that innovations had been made by the Jews for the Day of Atonement service, by the introduction of a dividing screen and other articles. A beadle told the deputy District Commissioner that the screen would be removed next day, but this was not done, and the police removed it, in spite of resistance from some of the worshippers. The British Government regarded it as its duty, and it is its intention, to maintain the Jewish right of access to the pavement in front of the wall for the purpose of their devotions, also to bring to the wall those appurtenances they were allowed to take to the wall under the Turkish regime. Aβ to further privileges the possibility of acquiring them by mutual arrangement has been lessened by the fact that public opinion in Palestine has removed the matter from the purely religious orbit and made of it a political and a national question.

STATUS QUO. BUILDING NOT A VIOLATION. (British Official Wireless.) (Received 12 noon.) RUGBY, November 29. Mr. L. S. Amery, Secretary for the Dominions, stated in the House of Commons that he was not satisfied that the new stone construction on top of the Wailing Wall at Jerusalem was a violation of the status quo. According to the latest reports, it would appear that the small wall constructed above the building that surmounts a portion of the Wailing Wall, was an integral part of the structure begun many months ago. It was never suggested when the work was started that it would involve any infringement of the status quo.