ABSTRACT
The Lofgren Commission presided over the second trial between Arabs and Jews during the early years of the conflict, this time focusing solely on the legal rights and claims of the Muslims and Jews to the Wailing Wall and the pavement in front of the Wall. Once again, both sides were represented by counsel who gave opening statements and closing arguments, and cross-examined each other’s witnesses under oath. Just as they did before the Shaw Commission, the Muslim and Jewish sides engaged in highly adversarial litigation for the next month before the Lofgren Commission. The trial featured detailed testimony regarding Ottoman-era Jewish rights of access to and prayer at the Wall. The Muslim lawyers and witnesses argued the Wall was exclusively Muslim property, meaning the Jews enjoyed merely a right of “visitation.” The Commission urged the parties to settle their differences outside the courtroom, but those efforts failed. The Commission issued a verdict affirming Muslim ownership of the Wall, but permitting limited Jewish prayer practices. Neither side was happy with the outcome, but both seemed to accept it, and no further serious outbreaks of violence occurred at the Wall during the remainder of the British Mandate.
