Jerusalem’s most important Jewish site, known in Arabic as the Buraq Wall. The shrine, believed by Jews to be the western wall of the Second Temple, begun by King Herod, also forms the western wall of the Haram al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary/Temple Mount, Jerusalem’s most significant site for Muslims and the location of the most sacred site in Judaism, the Holy of Holies. However, for a variety of reasons enshrined in Jewish religious law and political and security agreements dating back to the Ottoman period, Jews are restricted from the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount, thus making the Western Wall the closest Jews can reach the Holy of Holies sanctuary.
The Western Wall (or the Wailing Wall pre-1967 when Jews were said to mourn for it, because it was inaccessible since that part of Jerusalem was under Jordanian rule) once formed the northern border of the Haret al-Maghariba, home to a diverse community of Maghribi Muslims and Maghriebi-origin Muslim Palestinians who were expelled when Israel razed the entire ancient neighborhood in 1967. Atop this demolished quarter of the Old City, Israel built the expansive and fortified Western Wall prayer plaza, attended today by large gatherings of Jewish worshippers. Its Palestinian and Arab character meticulously erased by Israel, the Western Wall was also the site of the 1929 Buraq Uprising, instigated by Palestinian protests against a provocative Zionist rally there, as well as against the increased Judaization of Palestine.