The earliest source mentioning this specific site as a place of worship is from the 16th century . The previous sites used by Jews for mourning the destruction of the Temple , during periods when access to the city was prohibited to them , lay to the east , on the Mount of Olives and in the Kidron Valley below it . From the mid-19th century onwards , attempts to purchase rights to the wall and its immediate area were made by various Jews , but none was successful . With the rise of the Zionist movement in the early 20th century , the wall became a source of friction between the Jewish and Muslim communities , the latter being worried that the wall could be used to further Jewish claims to the Temple Mount and thus Jerusalem . During this period outbreaks of violence at the foot of the wall became commonplace , with a particularly deadly riot in 1929 in which 133 Jews were killed and 339 injured . After the 1948 Arab – Israeli War the Eastern portion of Jerusalem was occupied by Jordan . Under Jordanian control Jews were completely expelled from the Old City including the Jewish quarter , and Jews were barred from entering the Old City for 19 years , effectively banning Jewish prayer at the site of the Western Wall . This period ended on June 10 , 1967 , when Israel gained control of the site following the Six-Day War . Three days after establishing control over the Western Wall site the Moroccan Quarter was bulldozed by Israeli authorities to create space for what is now the Western Wall plaza
riot in 1929
1929 Palestine riots
Western Wall