Protesting against Reform services
Protesting against Reform servicesHezki Baruch

The Prime Minister's Office has declared that "dividers must not be allowed to be brought into the egalitarian plaza at the Western Wall."

The statement follows haredi and religious activists' attempts to bring dividers into the plaza.

Ynet quoted a letter sent by the chair of the steering committee to the Director General of the Company for the Reconstruction and Development of the Jewish Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem, which read: "We must prevent, already at the entrance to the site, the entry of dividers into the prayer plaza."

The egalitarian plaza, formally named the Ezrat Yisrael, has caused commotion in recent years, after groups of haredi and religious Jews have begun to make use of the usually-empty plaza to pray quietly, with men and women separated by dividers.

The Ezrat Yisrael is officially egalitarian and intended for use by Reform worshippers, but it stands empty the vast majority of the year, and even the monthly visits by Women of the Wall (WoW) do not make use of the Ezrat Yisrael: Instead, the group pushes its way into the regular women's plaza, where they start fights and disturb peaceful prayers.

Meanwhile, ahead of the Ninth of Av, which last year saw clashes at the site, Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, rabbi of the town of Har Bracha, met secretly last Tuesday with the head of the Conservative Movement in Israel, Israel Hayom reported.

Israel National News - Arutz Sheva was informed that the meeting was initiated by members of the Conservative Movement, who are interested in resolving the issues and reaching understandings ahead of the fast day.

Meir Porush, who chairs the United Torah Judaism party, responded to the statement from Lapid's office by saying, "The fact that Yair Lapid allows himself to decide that dividers should not be allowed to be brought in for people who wish to pray separately at the Southern Plaza of the Western Wall shows that his intentions have not changed and his sole interest is to harm what is holy to Israel."