preferential treatment to Jews with a proviso for restricting Jewish immigration to conform with Palestine's .
"absorptive capacity". Another action that seemed to violate the mandate was the creation of the Emirate of .
Transjordan, removing two-thirds of Palestine that lay east of the Jordan River from the area in which Jews .
could develop their national home, claiming the partition was only temporary. .
During the first civilian governor of Palestine, it looked as if Jewish-Arab differences would be .
resolved when more Jews emigrated out of Palestine than immigrated and with the presence of a .
complementary relationship among the two peoples, but the hopes dissipated during the 1929 "Wailing .
Wall Incident". The Wailing Wall (a.k.a. the Western Wall) is a remnant of the second Jewish Temple, .
symbolizing the hope that one day the Temple will be rebuilt and the ancient Jewish rituals revived; but the .
Wall also forms a part of the enclosure surrounding the Temple Mount, which the Dome of the Rock and .
al-Aqsa mosque stand atop; Muslims feared that Jewish actions before the Western Wall could lead to their .
pressing a claim to the historic site. .
In 1928, Jewish worshipers brought some benches to sit on. The police took them away several .
times, but the Jews kept putting them back. To Muslims, this activity was an attempt by the Jews to .
strengthen their claims to the Wall and retaliated by running a highway past it to distract the worshipers. .
Several fights broke out that escalated into a small civil war. Arabs perpetrated massacres in other places .
in Palestine. The British constabulary was inadequate and Britain sent a commission of inquiry; later .
issuing a report that justified the Arab position. The colonial secretary, Lord Passfield, placed blame on the .
Jewish Agency and the Zionists, and Britain tightened restrictions on Jewish immigration. Due to domestic .
embarrassment, the British government issued a letter explaining away the Passfield condemnation, hardly .
