Egalitarian prayer space near Kotel still closed
Jerusalem Municipality issued stop-work order for repairs, keeping site closed two years after stone fell and damaged area
Jerusalem City Hall has raised new obstacles to the repair of some wooden planks of the egalitarian prayer platform of the Western Wall. It is the only platform with access to the Western Wall stones for progressive Jews, and has been shut for almost two years.
In July 2018, a large stone fell out of the wall above the prayer platform, which is part of the egalitarian prayer section of the Western Wall at its southern end. It caused damage to the wooden floor of the platform.
That part of the egalitarian prayer section was closed down for safety reasons, allowing the Israel Antiquities Authority to carry out repairs when it was found that other stones were in danger of falling.
After some 20 months, the work was concluded in March.
Efforts to repair the wooden planks of the platform have stalled due to an appeal against the work that was upheld by the Jerusalem Municipality engineer. He issued a work-stop order.
Although the larger section of the egalitarian prayer area is still open, it has not been possible to touch the Western Wall stones as in the central plaza.
Dr. Yizhar Hess, director of
the Masorti Movement in Israel (Conservative), said he was “at a loss” as to how to proceed after two years of delays and obstacles in reopening the site.
“It is now nearly two years since the stone fell from the Western Wall, and it is not just that the repairs [of the wall] took an unreasonable amount of time,” he said. “Now we have to wait even longer for repairs to the platform, which could be done in half an hour.”
The ongoing delays and obstacles were “deliberate abuse,” Hess said, adding that if a stone had fallen out of the wall above the central plaza, any repairs would not have taken more than a week to fix.
“It is hard to get away from the feeling that there is a deliberate attempt at foot-dragging,” he said, adding that increasing numbers of Israelis had been conducting barand bat-mitzvah ceremonies and praying at the egalitarian prayer site before the COVID19 pandemic erupted.
“We had more than 100,000 worshipers a year, and nearly 1,200 religious ceremonies… Many families understood that it is so logical to celebrate together as a family, and that to send a grandmother to stand on a chair in order to peek at their grandson is not respectful, not appropriate and not necessary,” Hess said.
Rabbi Jacob Blumenthal, CEO of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and its Rabbinical Assembly, said the egalitarian prayer space was created “after a long and challenging set of negotiations. Jerusalem City Hall should “permit the repairs to be completed forthwith so that families may continue to pray and celebrate together,” he said.
Senior level sources level involved in the issue told the Post said that in July 2018 Jerusalem City Hall issued a dangerous structure order following the stone fall at the site, and that the City Hall issued an administrative order preventing the completion of the repairs at the prayer platform.
The Prime Minister’s Office said it is working through the Israel Antiquities Authority and with Jerusalem City Hall to remove the current obstacles.
Jerusalem City Hall said in response that “recently building work at the site was noticed which required the examination of the necessary permits to continue the work. This issue is currently being examined by the professionals.” • were likely a response to opposition to US President Donald Trump’s peace plan from the Israeli Right, especially the settler leadership in the Yesha Council.
Yesha Council director-general Yigal Dilmoni said the US has rejected attempts by the settler leadership to modify Trump’s annexation map, which allocates to Israel 30% of the West Bank.
US and Israeli officials are now in the middle of mapping out that territory in Area C. But an initial map of the territory, which includes all the West Bank settlements, was already published with the Trump peace plan in January.
Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin, one of the Israeli members of the mapping committee, denied Dilmoni’s claim, saying “the Americans have not conveyed any stance on the matter.”
Dilmoni said: “We asked the Prime Minister’s Office if we could be part of the mapping process.”
The request was refused, but the Prime Minister’s Office said it would accept materials from Yesha with regard to the plan, he said.
Once the material was submitted, they were told the US would not accept their input and that “there would be no changes to the map,” Dilmoni added.
An American source with knowledge of the mapping committee would not confirm or deny the Yesha Council’s claim.
The purpose of the mapping committee is to make the plan’s map “less conceptual and more factual,” the source said.
But the Yesha Council said it wants to offer assistance precisely with these factual details. Yesha Council chairman David Elhayani said settlers have created three alternative sovereignty maps that correct the problems with the Trump map. Those maps offer a sovereignty blueprint for territory comprising 32.5%, 35% or 38.5% of the West Bank.
The US refusal to consider any of their proposals or to make what the settlers believe are easy fixes to the map has only fueled their suspicions about the process.
Throughout the process the US has described the map attached to the Trump plan as a “conceptual one,” but that has turned out to be a “bold-faced lie” because the US “refuses to be flexible with regard to the map,” Elhayani said.
The US response was confirmed to him a week ago by someone close to the mapping process who told him the US would “not budge by one millimeter” with regard to the map, he said.
The Yesha Council has since intensified its campaign against the map, meeting with as many Knesset members and ministers as possible to sway them to support sovereignty in Area C, but not under Trump’s terms.
Among the hidden misconceptions in the Trump map is the extent of the territory, which Elhayani said is only 25% and not 30% as referenced in the Trump plan.
The US “fooled us” because 5% of that territory includes the waters of the Dead Sea, he said. “What do I need the Dead Sea waters for? I can’t put a road or a settlement there, why include it?”
In speaking with some MKs and ministers, Elhayani has said the Trump map endangers the security of the State of Israel and its citizens.
After some of the meetings, MKs have posted photos of the maps and pictures of Yesha representatives speaking with them.
At issue, in particular, is the settlers’ concern that the map creates a burdensome traffic pattern that blocks them from major urban centers. They also are concerned that there are hidden details in the plan that would create de facto building freezes and lead to the destruction of at least 15 settlements.
Under the Trump plan, those settlements would be transformed into enclaves within a future Palestinian state, with only one exit pattern and no room to expand the communities’ boundaries.
The Yesha Council has also opposed the portion of the plan that calls for a Palestinian state. But its focus at the moment has been the map.
Former justice minister Ayelet Shaked posted after meeting with the Yesha Council that Yamina also has opposed the Trump peace plan and had asked to be part of the mapping process.
After the meeting, Shaked tweeted that Netanyahu “refused us [Yamina] access to the mapping committee. Even Yesha he rejected. It appears that the map is the American map without any changes by settlement representatives.”
Not all settler leaders agree with the Yesha Council. An opposition movement in favor of the Trump plan has formed, spearheaded by Efrat Council head Oded Revivi, who was the former Yesha foreign envoy. Efrat is among the locations that would not be harmed by the Trump map.
Revivi has argued that Israel should accept the Trump plan in the same way its prestate leadership accepted the 1947 UN partition plan, even though it did not like all the details.
“The current US government is the most friendly administration to Israel that we have ever witnessed,” he said. “The evidence for this is that they have moved the American Embassy to Jerusalem, they have canceled agreements with Iran, they have recognized the rights of Jews in Judea and Samaria, and they have recognized Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights.”
“It is the responsibility of the settlers to hold open discourse with the US government,” Revivi said. “To create such discourse, one must be respectful and avoid phrases like ‘they tricked us.’ I believe in open discourse. I believe in the attentive ear of the ambassador and the White House, and I call on the leadership of the Yesha Council to believe in it and to act accordingly.”
Neighboring Jordan’s King Abdullah did not address annexation in his Independence Day speech, contrary to expectations. He is a staunch opponent of Israel applying its