<P> In the late 1830s a wealthy Jew named Shemarya Luria attempted to purchase houses near the Wall, but was unsuccessful, as was Jewish sage Abdullah of Bombay who tried to purchase the Western Wall in the 1850s . In 1869 Rabbi Hillel Moshe Gelbstein settled in Jerusalem . He arranged that benches and tables be brought to the Wall on a daily basis for the study groups he organised and the minyan which he led there for years . He also formulated a plan whereby some of the courtyards facing the Wall would be acquired, with the intention of establishing three synagogues--one each for the Sephardim, the Hasidim and the Perushim . He also endeavoured to re-establish an ancient practice of "guards of honour", which according to the mishnah in Middot, were positioned around the Temple Mount . He rented a house near the Wall and paid men to stand guard there and at various other gateways around the mount . However this set - up lasted only for a short time due to lack of funds or because of Arab resentment . In 1874, Mordechai Rosanes paid for the repaving of the alleyway adjacent to the wall . </P> <P> In 1887 Baron Rothschild conceived a plan to purchase and demolish the Moroccan Quarter as "a merit and honor to the Jewish People ." The proposed purchase was considered and approved by the Ottoman Governor of Jerusalem, Rauf Pasha, and by the Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammed Tahir Husseini . Even after permission was obtained from the highest secular and Muslim religious authority to proceed, the transaction was shelved after the authorities insisted that after demolishing the quarter no construction of any type could take place there, only trees could be planted to beautify the area . Additionally the Jews would not have full control over the area . This meant that they would have no power to stop people from using the plaza for various activities, including the driving of mules, which would cause a disturbance to worshippers . Other reports place the scheme's failure on Jewish infighting as to whether the plan would foster a detrimental Arab reaction . </P> <P> In 1895 Hebrew linguist and publisher Rabbi Chaim Hirschensohn became entangled in a failed effort to purchase the Western Wall and lost all his assets . Even the attempts of the Palestine Land Development Company to purchase the environs of the Western Wall for the Jews just before the outbreak of World War I never came to fruition . In the first two months following the Ottoman Empire's entry into the First World War, the Turkish governor of Jerusalem, Zakey Bey, offered to sell the Moroccan Quarter, which consisted of about 25 houses, to the Jews in order to enlarge the area available to them for prayer . He requested a sum of £ 20,000 which would be used to both rehouse the Muslim families and to create a public garden in front of the Wall . However, the Jews of the city lacked the necessary funds . A few months later, under Muslim Arab pressure on the Turkish authorities in Jerusalem, Jews became forbidden by official decree to place benches and light candles at the Wall . This sour turn in relations was taken up by the Chacham Bashi who managed to get the ban overturned . In 1915 it was reported that Djemal Pasha closed off the wall to visitation as a sanitary measure . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Th> Year </Th> <Th> Issued by </Th> <Th> Content </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> c. 1560 </Td> <Td> Suleiman the Magnificent </Td> <Td> Official recognition of the right of Jews to pray by the Wall . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1840 </Td> <Td> Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt </Td> <Td> Forbidding the Jews to pave the passage in front of the Wall . It also cautioned them against "raising their voices and displaying their books there ." They were however allowed "to pay visits to it as of old ." </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1841 * </Td> <Td> Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt </Td> <Td> "Of the same bearing and likewise to two others of 1893 and 1909 ." </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1889 * </Td> <Td> Abdul Hamid II </Td> <Td> That there shall be no interference with the Jews' places of devotional visits and of pilgrimage, that are situated in the localities which are dependent on the Chief Rabbinate, nor with the practice of their ritual . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1893 * </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> Confirming firman of 1889 . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1909 * </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> Confirming firman of 1889 . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1911 </Td> <Td> Administrative Council of the Liwa </Td> <Td> Prohibiting the Jews from certain appurtenances at the Wall . </Td> </Tr> </Table>

Is the western wall in east or west jerusalem