Archeologists Slam Construction at Western Wall for Egalitarian Prayer Deal

Image by Getty Images
New construction aimed at providing a space for non-Orthodox prayer at the Western Wall would damage “the most important archaeological site for the Jewish people,” a group of Israeli archaeologists said.
In a letter to Benjamin Netanyahu, nine senior archaeologists urged the prime minister to abort plans for construction, the Times of Israel reported.
The proposed construction, which would expand an area south of the main Western Wall prayer site, providing access for mixed-gender prayer, is part of a compromise announced last week to resolve tensions between liberal Jews and Israel’s Orthodox establishment.
The Western Wall, the retaining wall and last surviving remnant of the Second Temple, is the holiest site in Judaism. The Temple Mount where the First and Second Temples once stood, is one of Islam’s holiest sites and home to al-Aqsa Mosque. The area has been a flashpoint for Jewish-Muslim tensions, with rumors in October that Israel planned to change the status quo there sparking an ongoing upsurge of violence in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
According to the Times of Israel, Dan Bahat, who excavated the Western Wall tunnels; Ronny Reich, head of the Archaeological Council of Israel, who exposed part of the paved road beneath Robinson’s Arch; Jerusalem Prize winner Gabriel Barkay, who directs the Temple Mount Sifting Project, and Israel Prize laureate Amihai Mazar were among the signatories to the letter.
The construction plan has been approved by the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, but been criticized by haredi Orthodox groups.
Palestinian Minister of Waqf and Religious Affairs Youssef Ideiss also objected to the plan, saying it would violate the status-quo agreement governing the Temple Mount area.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO