The Woman of the Wall organization rejects the Ezrat Yisrael area announced earlier by Minister of Religious Services Naftali Bennett as a solution at the Kosel for the organization’s monthly prayer event.

In response, the organization has announced it is beginning a 24-hour Kosel sit-in, beginning on Sunday, 19 Elul 5773 at 18:00.

Following is the organization’s message released to the media a short time ago.

“Today Minister of Religious Services Naftali Bennett announced his support for the Mandelblit plan, the Prime Minister’s Office committee charged with the task of solving the problem of inequality at the Western Wall.

“The committee is supporting a solution in which a wooden balcony has been built on scaffolding in the middle of Robinson’s Arch, an area separated by a wall and out of view from the Western Wall. The plan will effectively exile women and all Jews who pray in a way that is not ultra-Orthodox tradition to Robinson’s Arch and away from the area of the Western Wall where Jews have prayed for generations.

“If this plan is accepted, the government will be excluding over 50% of Jewish population to the ‘back of the bus’.

“Women of the Wall rejects the Mandelblit plan which dangerously circumvents the pluralist Sobel District Court decision. We are at a crossroads for religious freedom and freedom of expression in Israel. Today this effects Women of the Wall but tomorrow it will affect every Israeli and Jew around the world. What has been proven today is that the bullies were victorious- with their assault, spitting and cursing at women. Mandelblit and Bennett have given in to the threats and violence of the chareidi extremist minority in Israel and this is a dangerous precedent for our democracy.

“The proposed plan, the wooden stage in the center of the archaeological visitor’s center, is concerning only mixed prayer, and therefore does not provide a solution for Women of the Wall, a mixed women’s prayer section. The plan leaves control over the entire area in the hands of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, an organization run by a vast majority ultra-Orthodox men. The stage is in no way equal topographically or geographically to the original plaza, not does it come close to the Wall itself, as it stands to the back of the Robinson’s Arch area. This plan is the very definition of separate, and not nearly close to equal, it provides an out of sight- out of mind solution silencing women at the Western Wall.

“We call upon Tzipi Livni Minister of Justice to reject this plan, to demand equal rights for women to pray at the women’s section of the Western Wall. Women of the Wall is calling for a 24 hour sit-in at the Western Wall in the hopes that the government will reject this plan and support the District Court Decision in which all women can pray freely at the Western Wall.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)