Women of the Wall issue list of demands for prayer space

The Women of the Wall group said it would give up its right to pray in the women's part of the Western Wall in Jerusalem in exchange for an egalitarian section. The group issued a list of demands Monday ahead of a planned meeting with Cabinet Secretary Avichai Mendelblit to reach a solution in the battle for equal prayer rights at the wall, The Jerusalem Post reported. Haaretz reported some of the demands for the deal are: The upper plaza of the Kotel (the western wall of the second temple) -- the area above the segregated prayer spaces -- should be controlled by a new authority that would also control the new egalitarian space. Half the members of the authority should be women and the authority should receive the same level of government funding as the Orthodox-run Western Wall Heritage Foundation. The egalitarian space would need to accommodate 500 women with direct physical contact with the wall. The new space should be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week with no entrance fee or the need to book the space in advance. The new space should be renamed "Kotel -- Ezrat [with God's help] Yisrael [Israel]."