 During the 1948 Arab @-@ Israeli War the Old City together with the Wall was controlled by Jordan . Article VIII of the 1949 Armistice Agreement provided for Israeli Jewish access to the Western Wall . However , for the following nineteen years , despite numerous requests by Israeli officials and Jewish groups to the United Nations and other international bodies to attempt to enforce the armistice agreement , Jordan refused to abide by this clause . Neither Israeli Arabs nor Israeli Jews could visit their holy places in the Jordanian territories . An exception was made for Christians to participate in Christmas ceremonies in Bethlehem . Some sources claim Jews could only visit the wall if they traveled through Jordan ( which was not an option for Israelis ) and did not have an Israeli visa stamped in their passports . Only Jordanian soldiers and tourists were to be found there . A vantage point on Mount Zion , from which the Wall could be viewed , became the place where Jews gathered to pray . For thousands of pilgrims , the mount , being the closest location to the Wall under Israeli control , became a substitute site for the traditional priestly blessing ceremony which takes place on the Three Pilgrimage Festivals . 
