"This isn't a place that you can cover and say 'imagine to yourselves what
was here.' There are huge stones there, there is the artwork that decorated
the Temple Mount and it's all inside the rockslide. ...If there will be a
ramp on top of it that will be a total destruction of the appearance. It
just can't be done."
Dr. Eilat Mazar of Hebrew University's archaeology institute to Arutz Sheva
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/207375#.VrGhXJtf2M8
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Prayer arrangements at the Western Wall
Advisory team recommendations 2016 - The proposed framework was formulated
in an attempt to balance the rights of all relevant parties - to respect, to
equality and to freedom of religion and worship - in a manner that preserves
the special historic, national and religious place that the Western Wall
holds for the entire Jewish people.
MFA 3 February 2016

The Western Wall, all that remains of the Second Temple retaining wall,
currently serves as the central place of worship for the Jewish people. For
years, the Western Wall has been a magnet for many as a site of unique
historic, national and religious importance. According to data gathered over
the past several years, more than 10 million people visit the Western Wall
site each year. Most of the worshippers at the existing Western Wall Plaza
pray in what is referred to as the Orthodox custom. However, there are
people who wish to pray in a different manner, in accordance with their own
identity, path and custom.

Over the past several years, there has been increased public discord
regarding the prayer options at the Western Wall, resulting from the desire
of members of the Women of the Wall organization to pray in the Women's
Plaza of the Western Wall in accordance with their tradition and the severe
resistance their method of worship provokes among the Orthodox public. This
disagreement enhanced the need to reexamine the existing prayer arrangements
at the Western Wall. To that end, the Prime Minister appointed an advisory
team, which comprised Cabinet Secretary Avichai Mandelblit, Deputy Attorney
General Dina Zilber (Counsel), and Zvi Hauser. The team was asked to examine
the existing prayer arrangements, the need for changes, and ways to execute
these changes. In order to avoid all doubt, it should be emphasized that the
team limited its scope to these aspects alone and avoided dealing with other
aspects related to the status of the Western Wall in its national and
official context, or other issues related to the status of the non-Orthodox
denominations in the State of Israel.

After examining this issue from all sides, and having heard from the
relevant parties, the team formulated a proposed framework, at the heart of
which is an expansion of the possibilities for worship at the Western Wall
site so that each person wishing to worship at the Western Wall can do so in
accordance with their custom and faith. The proposed framework was
formulated in an attempt to balance the rights of all relevant parties - to
respect, to equality and to freedom of religion and worship - and to do so
in a manner that preserves the special historic, national and religious
place that the Western Wall holds for the Jewish people, the entire Jewish
people.

The framework is based on the Supreme Court ruling resulting from the
struggle of Women of the Wall and on the principles raised therein. The
framework combines the old and the new: maintaining the existing status quo
with regard to the majority of worshippers at the Western Wall Plaza and
establishing a new space, both physically and conceptually, for Jewish
prayer in other forms in the southern section of the Western Wall. The
framework is intended, on the one hand, to provide proper expression for
religious pluralism in Judaism in a manner that will allow the various
denominations of Judaism to pray and worship; while, on the other hand,
preserving the existing Orthodox method of worship in the northern section,
all as part of freedom of religion, and in a manner that is in line with the
principles of equality.

Following are the main points of the proposed framework:

1. The Western Wall site, which serves as a symbol of the national,
religious and cultural renaissance of the Jewish people, will be open and
accessible to any Jew who wishes to pray in a manner that corresponds with
their identity and faith. To this end, in addition to the section of the
prayer plaza which exists today along the northern section of the Western
Wall (hereinafter: the northern section), an additional prayer plaza will be
established along the southern section of the Western Wall, south of the
Mughrabi Bridge (hereinafter: the southern section). The two prayer plazas
will operate simultaneously.

2. In the northern section, prayers will be conducted according to Orthodox
Jewish custom, in accordance with Jewish law as exercised by the Chief
Rabbinate in Israel, which includes, inter alia, separation between the
women's section and the men's section, and women's prayers are held in
accordance with this custom. In the southern section, prayers will be
conducted in accordance with the pluralistic and egalitarian custom in a
manner that will provide a satisfactory solution for worshippers from the
various non-Orthodox denominations, first and foremost the Reform and
Conservative movements. In general, it is in this plaza that men and women
will pray without separation. At the same time, and taking into account the
pluralistic character of this section, Women of the Wall, whose unwavering
struggle to pray in accordance with their beliefs in the Western Wall Plaza
has lasted more than 25 years, will have the option to hold separate praye
rs for women in the section every Rosh Hodesh and on Ta'anit Esther, and at
other times for which the supervisor of the southern section will provide
specific permission, in accordance with the opinion of the Southern Section
Council.

3. The southern section will be physically adapted to serve as a proper,
accessible and visible prayer area that constitutes an integral part of the
Western Wall site. We note that the preparations for transforming the
section to serve as a prayer plaza as aforementioned will be undertaken
while taking into consideration the fact that the location, which today
serves as a archaeological park, contains archaeological finds of the utmost
cultural, scientific, historic and national importance, which commemorate
the destruction of Jerusalem. Accordingly, the physical changes planned for
the location will be done in a manner that ensures the preservation, as much
as possible, of the aforementioned archaeological findings, in accordance
with the law, including receiving permission from the Director-General of
the Israel Antiquities Authority, as required by power of his authority as
granted in the Law of Antiquities, 1978.

4. The upper plaza, which lies west of the northern section, will serve as a
place to congregate and as a passageway to the prayer section as well as
occasionally to hold ceremonies of a national, governmental or military
character. As a rule, prayers will not be held in this area, nor will there
be separation of men and women. This does not exclude prayers held on
special occasions - during the three pilgrimages, the Days of Awe
(Selichot), Jerusalem Day and Tisha B'Av, as well as large prayer
convocations - with the condition that the expected number of worshippers
for these prayers exceeds the maximal capacity of the northern section. In
such cases, and only during prayer times, the custom observed in the areas
of the upper plaza used for prayer (the size of which will be adjusted for
the number of worshippers on site) will be the custom of the northern
section. All aspects of the administration of the upper plaza will remain in
its cur rent framework, i.e. under the purview of the Rabbi of the Western
Wall and Holy Sites of Israel and the Western Wall Heritage Foundation.

5. The two prayer sections, northern and southern, will be open free of
charge and accessible to anyone who wishes to enter them to visit, worship
or for any other purpose, as long as the conduct of those visiting these
sections is in accordance with the prayer arrangements customary in the
section, i.e. according to what is acceptable in each section and its
character.

6. Administration of the northern section, both the administrative and the
religious aspects, will remain in its existing framework, i.e. under the
purview of the Supervisor of the Holy Sites of the Jews (namely the Rabbi of
the Western Wall). Administration of these aspects of the southern section
will be entrusted to the supervisor of this section, who will be the
Director General of the Prime Minister's Office or one of his deputies or
one of the Deputy Cabinet Secretaries, to be appointed for this purpose by
the Prime Minister. Alongside the supervisor, a council will determine the
prayer arrangements at the location and will be authorized to instruct the
supervisor with regard to exercising their authority. The members of the
council will include: the Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, who will
serve as chairman of the council; five civil servants to be appointed by the
Prime Minister; the Director-General of the Israel Antiqui ties Authority;
and six representatives of the public, who will also be appointed by the
Prime Minister and who will represent the public of worshippers in the
southern section. This mechanism is intended to provide an appropriate
response to the innovation and sensitivity involved in administering the
southern section in light of the groundbreaking arrangement to be
implemented there and the complexities resulting from the fact that the
aforementioned area combines both a prayer section and an archaeological
site.

7. The proposed framework will be anchored in an amendment to the
Regulations for the Protection of Holy Places to the Jews, 1981.

8. Until the proposed framework is implemented in a manner that will provide
an appropriate resolution for the prayer needs of Women of the Wall, the
worship practices customary at the Western Wall on the date the report is
published will remain unchanged.

The proposed framework strives to respect the rights and needs of all
relevant parties. It incorporates both tradition and innovation; it
demonstrates balance and recognizes and reflects the complexity of the
situation. It has both attentiveness and hope that the Western Wall will
cease to be an area of discord and that its unifying character will be
restored in a manner that befits its unique status among the entire Jewish
people as a national and religious site for yearning and prayer. Our only
hope is that it advances peace among us.