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Location Information:
The
Western Wall sometimes referred to
as the Wailing Wall or simply the
Kotel and as al-Buraaq Wall in
Arabic, is an important Jewish
religious site located in the Old
City of Jerusalem. Just over half
the wall, including its 17 courses
located below street level, dates
from the end of the Second Temple
period, being constructed around 19
BCE by Herod the Great. The
remaining layers were added from the
7th century onwards.
Most
Jews, religious and secular,
consider the capture of the wall by
Israel in 1967 as an historic event.
A poll carried out in 2007 by the
Jerusalem Institute for Israel
Studies indicated that 96% of
Israeli Jews were against Israel
relinquishing sovereignty of the
Western Wall. However, after the
1967 Six Day War, a small minority
of reverent Jews led by anti-Zionist
Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum of Satmar
would not approach the wall. Rabbi
Teitelbaum had written of the
prohibition against visiting and
praying at the wall since it had
been liberated by Zionist soldiers.
He asserted that a remnant of the
Temple had fallen into the hands of
"a foreign occupier," and instructed
his followers not to approach it.
Till this day, adherents of Satmar
and the Neturei Karta sect refrain
from approaching the Wall, asserting
that it has been befouled by secular
interests and those professing
Zionism, which they see as an
abomination. Avigdor Miller, a
non-Hasidic American rabbi, wrote
that "the Kosel is better off in the
hands of the Muslims due to their
modesty more than the Jews who
defile the holy place with their
Jewish immodesty". In recent decades
some Muslims have been vociferous in
denying that the Wall has any
significance in Judaism. In December
1973, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia
stated that “Only Muslims and
Christians have holy places and
rights in Jerusalem”. The Jews, he
maintained, had no rights there at
all. As for the Western Wall, he
said, “Another wall can be built for
them
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