The Mughrabi Bridge is a wooden

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

connecting the Western Wall Plaza with the Mughrabi Gate of the

Temple Mount The Temple Mount (), also known as the Noble Sanctuary (Arabic: الحرم الشريف, 'Haram al-Sharif'), and sometimes as Jerusalem's holy esplanade, is a hill in the Old City of Jerusalem, Old City of Jerusalem that has been venerated as a ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

History

Until 2004 an earthen ramp allowed non-Muslim visitors direct access to the

through the Mughrabi Gate. An 800-year-old wall holding back part of the hill jutting out from the

Western Wall The Western Wall (; ; Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: ''HaKosel HaMa'arovi'') is an ancient retaining wall of the built-up hill known to Jews and Christians as the Temple Mount of Jerusalem. Its most famous section, known by the same name ...

leading up to the Mughrabi Gate partially collapsed. Authorities believed a recent earthquake may have been responsible. During the winter of that year heavy snowfall (by Israeli standards) caused the ramp to collapse. In 2007, the current wooden bridge was built, originally intended as a temporary measure that would stand for several months until a more permanent bridge was constructed. In order to build a permanent bridge, the remains of the old ramp and the earth under it had to be excavated, which resulted in accusations by the

Waqf A (; , plural ), also called a (, plural or ), or ''mortmain'' property, is an Alienation (property law), inalienable charitable financial endowment, endowment under Sharia, Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot ...

that Israel was trying to destabilise the

and collapse the

Dome of the Rock The Dome of the Rock () is an Islamic shrine at the center of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound on the Temple Mount in the Old City (Jerusalem), Old City of Jerusalem. It is the world's oldest surviving work of Islamic architecture, the List_of_the_ol ...

from the location of the rampwhich in turn resulted in international criticism, violent protests and calls for a third Intifada. Several of the neighbouring Arab states argued that the work threatened their internal stability, while other states threatened war. As a result, the bridge was still standing at the end of 2011, when the city engineer of Jerusalem issued an order to close the structure because it was not safe. In 2012 and 2013, the support scaffolding of the bridge was replaced with a large metal beam structure and the area under the bridge was again open for visitors to walk around, resulting in a 1.5–2× increase in size of the Western Wall's women's prayer area (but not greater than the original area prior to construction).

2014 addition

In August 2014, construction was started on a second bridge to the Mughrabi Gate. The second bridge would be a supplement to the 2007 Mughrabi Bridge. This secondary bridge became controversial, and at the wishes of the Jordanian government, work was halted and what had been built was torn down.

Significance

The Mughrabi gate is the only gate to the Temple Mount that the

allows non-Muslims to use for visiting the Temple Mount complex. The bridge is the only way to reach the gate. The bridge and excavation of the historic ramp leading up to the gate have been a point of contention contributing to the hostility of the

Arab–Israeli conflict The Arab–Israeli conflict is a geopolitical phenomenon involving military conflicts and a variety of disputes between Israel and many Arab world, Arab countries. It is largely rooted in the historically supportive stance of the Arab League ...

References

{{Temple Mount Temple Mount Wooden bridges he:שער המוגרבים#גשר המוגרבים ומעלה המוגרבים

History

2014 addition

Significance

See also

References