Lexicon

On August 15, 1929, a group of Zionists led by members of Betar demonstrated at al-Buraq Wall, or the Western Wall, a place that is holy to Jews. They raised the Zionist flag and sang the Zionist anthem in provocation of the city’s Palestinians. In response, Palestinians rioted, leading to a week of violence in which 113 Jews and 116 Arabs were killed and over 200 wounded. Importantly, the riots came after years of expanding Jewish immigration to Palestine, as well as a British Mandate decision to increase the number of Jewish worshippers allowed access to the Western Wall, which had been under Muslim authority for centuries. With growing support for the Zionist movement among British Mandate authorities, Palestinians feared a Zionist takeover of the city’s holy sites. In fact, the bulk of the clashes was between Palestinians and British police, and it is believed that mandate authorities underreported Palestinian casualties. Also referred to as the Buraq Disturbances, Western Wall Disturbances, and Western Wall Uprising.

The Arabic name for the Western Wall, Jerusalem’s most important Jewish site, which is also part of al-Haram al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary, Jerusalem’s most significant site for Muslims. Its name derives from an Islamic tradition that relates how the Prophet Muhammad traveled “from the Sacred Mosque [Mecca] to the Farthest Mosque [al-Aqsa]” (Quran 17:1), riding al-Buraq, a supernatural steed from Paradise. He tied his horse by the wall, went in to pray, then ascended to Paradise. Later that same evening, he remounted al-Buraq and returned to Mecca.

Once forming the northern border of the Haret al-Maghariba, home to a diverse community of Palestinians who were expelled when Israel razed the neighborhood in 1967, the al-Buraq Wall located below Bab al-Maghariba is today a fortified area attended by large gatherings of Jewish worshippers. Its Palestinian and Arab character meticulously erased by Israel, today the Buraq Wall is more widely known as the Western Wall (or the Wailing Wall pre-1967 when Jews were said to mourn for it). Importantly, it was the site of the 1929 al-Buraq Uprising, instigated by Palestinian protests against a provocative Zionist rally there, as well as against the increased Judaization of Palestine.

See al-Buraq Wall.

A long-necked lute that originates from the Middle East and is particularly associated with Levantine Arab countries like Lebanon and Syria. The buzuq shares a similar appearance with the oud but has a longer neck and movable frets, allowing for microtonal adjustments that are essential in traditional Arabic classical and folk music. It typically has two or three sets of metal strings. The buzuq is often used in melodic improvisational forms.  

Roads built by Israel across the occupied West Bank to link Jewish settlements together while circumventing Palestinian built-up areas. These roads exclusively serve Jewish settlers and are not accessible to cars with Palestinian plates. Built over Palestinian agricultural public lands, bypass roads function alongside the Separation Wall and settlements in restricting the movement of Palestinians, blocking development of residential spaces, and fragmenting the West Bank. In Jerusalem, these roads connect the settlements surrounding the city with the city center and the coastal plain. According to UN-OCHA, as of September 2018, Israel had constructed some 400 kilometers of bypass roads in the West Bank.