Adler, Cyrus. Memorandum on the Western Wall. Prepared for the Special Commission of the League of Nations on Behalf of the Jewish Agency for Palestine

The status of the Western Wall during the British Mandate was riddled with controversy with both Jew and Arab claiming right to the site as a place of worship. Particularly contentious was the status of the desire by the Jews to places objects of worship at the site. A ten-month build up of tension over these disputed rights culminated in an attempted attack by an Arab mob on the Jews in Jerusalem on August 23rd, 1929. (See lot 133). The outbreak of violence spread to other parts of the country and on the following day, the Arabs murdered some seventy Jews in Hebron. In the week of bloody violence that ensued, there were attacks in Tel Aviv, Haifa and 18 Jews were killed by an Arab mob in Safed. Before the week had passed, large detachments of British troops were brought in, many were arrested (both Jew as well as Arab), before order was restored. In the wake of the violence, a Special Commission of Inquiry was set up by the League of Nations to resolve the “Problem of the Wall.” Cyrus Adler’s Memorandum, prepared on behalf of the Jewish Agency for Palestine examines the connection of the Jews to the site of the Western Wall in an historical context and establishes an historical precedent for the presence of Jews and their acts of prayer and worship at the site. See: M. Ben-Dov et al, Hakotel- The Western Wall (1983) pp. 128-35. “[The Commission of Inquiry] has the difficult task under the terms of Article 14 of the Mandate for Palestine, “to study, define and determine finally the rights and claims of Jews and Moslems at the Western Wall at Jerusalem.”....In the absence of any special Commission on the Holy Places or on this particular Holy Place, no formal action has heretofore been taken but...there was a consensus of opinion that the question could only be settled by an agreement between the Moslems and the Jews, and the Government should do its utmost to promote such an agreement. It is in this spirit that the subject will be presented to you on behalf of the Jewish Agency. We wish to premise that although appearing on behalf of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, a body recognized in the Mandate as advisory to the Palestine Government, the subject which is brought to your attention has no political, racial or national connotation and that while the Holy Places exists in Palestine, and is therefore requested by the Jews of Palestine, it is a place of pilgrimage for Jews through out the entire world....”