The history of the ramp.
It is described on the site of the Israeli Antiquities Authority (http://www.antiquities.org.il).

The Mughrabi Gate, which is situated at the top of the ramp, was first built by the Mufti of Jerusalem in 1920 and it is from there that, in 1929, the Muslims attacked the Jews who were praying at the Kotel.
When the ramp collapsed in 2004, archaeologists discovered a small room with an alcove and a little dome like a prayer niche, that could have been served as the home of a Muslim family in the Mughrabi district. The Mughrabi gate stands next to the Barclay Gate which dates from the 12th century and there are also other gates which are thoroughly documented in photographs on this site (see link Modia).

The ramp (maale, in Hebrew).



Here is how it looks. On the left is the women’s section of the Western Wall, above which the wooden ramp rises to the Mughrabi Gate. In front of the gate, under the two white canvasses, is the old ramp and one can clearly see, on the left side, the bedrock which collapsed. The area under the plastic sheeting marks the continuation of the old ramp. The caving in of the earth, which made the old ramp insecure, took place near the women’s section of the Wall.

Above is the same view expanded to show the area of the men’s section. It is clear right away that if the excavations undertaken at the site of the ramp endangered the mosque which stands to the right, at a distance, on the Temple Mount, then they would also endanger the men’s and women’s sections of the Wall. The accusation leveled by the Muslim thus becomes absurd.

As we get closer to the Kotel, we see how close the women’s section is to the ramp.

Here we have an even better view of how close the women’s section is to the zone of the ramp and the excavations, which clearly do not pose any danger.

Now let us stand facing the Mughrabi Gate. The old earth ramp, which was covered by a stone path, rose slowly, supported by a mass of earth and bordered by a stone wall which one can see clearly on the right side. It is the left side of the ramp which collapsed. The whole structure is clearly an adjunction to the wall whose massive, colossal architecture remains unaffected in any way by the ramp.

Here we can see clearly where the left side of the earth collapsed. To the left, we see the Dome of the Rock, and the site of the trees marks where the Jewish Temple would have stood. The entire zone of the Western Wall Plaza (men and women’s section and the ramp) is external to this colossal mass of stones.

Here are the famous excavations, which involve sifting the earth and stones that need to be removed in order to construct the new ramp!

The sacks of earth are clearly visible to everyone.

Here is the Mughrabi Gate. The cameras on the wall were there to ensure calm for tourists entering the Temple Mount and to prevent disturbances.
We can see that grass invaded the area and grew close to the stone path. Further on, we shall see a picture showing what lies between the ramp and the gate, and this will demonstrate even more that no harm is being done to the wall itself.

This photo illustrates the solidity of the Temple Mount architecture, which constitutes a massive structure whose surface is at the level of the gate and therefore cannot in any way be affected by an external earth ramp.

The women are protected by a simple cloth barrier, which shows that the mass of earth in question is neither enormous nor dangerous and cannot affect in any way the massive architecture of the Mount.

Much further away, facing the Kotel, at about 100 meters from the wall are real excavations: these are open excavations several meters below the level of the ground on which the Jews who come to pray at the Kotel tread. The public runs no danger from this, because all Jerusalem earth consists in compact, massive stone and the excavations and constructions are superficial.

This is clearly seen in these pictures of the excavation zone.

And here too.

Let’s return to the Western Wall and the women’s section, which is the only area which merits legitimate questions as to the consequences of removing the earth ramp to enable construction of a new ramp.

One can see the Mughrabi Gate at the top of the wooden ramp


And now, one can see below the real truth behind the story of the ramp. The collapse of the earth ramp occurred more than 10 meters away from the Mughrabi Gate. Between the wall and this zone of collapsed earth, a solid wall covers a structure which houses prayer rooms for the women. This entire structure has not been affected. If there had been any risk or danger, it would have occurred first and foremost here, at the site of these women’s prayer rooms. But the danger was inexistent.
It is therefore utterly untrue and groundless to claim that the removal of the earth ramp and the sifting of the earth by archaeologists, as is done everywhere in Israel where there is construction, damaged the wall and even more untrue to say that it harmed the area of the Al Aksa Mosque which is much further away.



This picture proves even further the absence of damage to the wall and Temple Mount edifice.

Now we see the base part of this structure from the area adjacent to the Western Wall. Here we see Jews praying: it is they who should have been worried by the excavations but they are not because their area is safe and solid.
So there is no problem whatsoever. Except for the dishonesty of those who propagated the lies against Israel, a dishonesty which is even more shocking in view of the fact that it relates to a holy place as much for Muslims as for Jews.

What is at issue therefore is another problem, which we will understand in the next picture.
Let’s turn our gaze towards the South. We can see the massive silhouette of the Porat Yossef Yeshiva which was rebuilt after Muslims, the Arabs of Palestine and Jordan, set it on fire in 1948 and destroyed countless Jewish holy sites, as well as the entire Jewish quarter.

with all its synagogues. We see them here, destroying a synagogue without any respect for this holy place of prayer and its Torah scrolls
of which nothing survived.

and we see here the ruins of the quarter that existed in front of the Western Wall and which was utterly destroyed by Muslims in 1948.


The Muslims are, today, simply projecting their habitual destructive imagination onto Jews and accusing them of what they themselves did to the holy sites of Jerusalem. The present Jewish Quarter that faces the Western Wall was built entirely from the ruins which they left.
It smacks of gross cynicism therefore for Muslims to portray themselves as victims while accusing the Jews, whom they hate, of doing exactly what they did to the holy sites in 1948.
The journalists and governments who echoes their accusations, are fully aware of the true facts, but chose instead to immediately associate themselves with anti-Semitic warmongers as soon as the opportunity presented itself. We shall not forget who joined the aggressors today, which media, journalists and governments. The others were misled.

In order to convey the extent of these people’s malice, here is a view of the “archaeological excavations” taking place near the ramp. It is clear that the wall is so sturdy that it can, in no way, be damaged by the removal of earth.

Finally, all the research on the construction of the wall since the time of the Temple 2000 years ago show, as in the picture below, that the wall descends more than 10 meters deep into the ground and the rock, and that its solidity and stability do not depend on a little mass of earth placed near the wall at a particular point.

The pictures below illustrate the extraordinary solidity of the stone foundations, each stone weighing several tons.

Another example: