The Western Wall Tunnel riots erupted on 24 September 1996, lasting primarily for four days, with smaller isolated outbreaks of violence occurring after this period.
The protests and riots were initially contained within Jerusalem, but over the week spread to cities and towns across the West Bank and Gaza, resulting in 59 Palestinians and 16 Israelis being killed along with hundreds of wounded.
[2] This Status quo remained for a century until the Six-Day War in 1967 when the Israeli army seized central Jerusalem, and Minister of Religions Zerach Warhaftig had the entrance reopened the following year.
[2] Strong divisiveness occurred in 1982 when the Rabbi of the Western Wall, Yehuda Getz, had a passage unblocked that led directly underneath the Dome of the Rock.
Once news of the tunnel's opening spread, an underground clash between Arab workers and Jewish students occurred that had to be separated by police, which caused the government to order the passage resealed (as it remains today).
[2] Both Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres refused to open the entrance seeing the benefits of tourism as being outweighed by the negative effects on the peace process.
[4] Around Midnight on 23 September, a group of workers led by Dan Bahat, and guarded by Israeli police, set about opening the entrance from Via Dolorosa Street.
[2] The following morning Mayor Ehud Olmert, surrounded by Jewish religious leaders and politicians, announced the opening of the passage, taking a sledgehammer to the fake wall and revealing it.
Attending the gathering was Grand Mufti Ekrima Sa'id Sabri who, according to Yisrael Hasson (deputy director of Shin Bet), immediately called President Yasser Arafat, saying "the Jews were digging under the Temple Mount.”[2] Within hours, hundreds of Palestinians were protesting in the streets of Jerusalem, but were prevented from reaching the entrance of the tunnel by Israeli police using rubber bullets.
Around a thousand students marched from Bir Zeit University in the direction of Jerusalem and reached an Israeli checkpoint at the border between the Palestinian Authority and Israel.
[7] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cut short a tour of European capitals, returning to Israel late Wednesday in response to the outbreak of violence.
Police responded by storming the Haram al-Sharif compound, utilising tear gas, rubber bullets, and (as claimed by the Palestinians) live ammunition.
In response, Netanyahu stated that he "did not regret that we opened the Western Wall Tunnel, which has no effect on the Temple Mount, and expresses our sovereignty over Jerusalem,".