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In order to understand what led up to the unrest in 1929 Palestine, one must understand the significance of the temple mount, the western wall and the Al-Aqsa mosque.

The Western Wall is one of Judaism's holiest sites, as it is considered to be a remnant of the second temple destroyed by the Roman Army in 70 CE. It is the location where people who follow Judaism turn to in prayer. It is located at the base of the Temple-mount, which is the location for Islam's third holiest site, the Al-Aqsa mosque. The Al-Aqsa mosque is holy to Muslims because Muslims believe that the Prophet Muhammad was transported from the Scared Mosque in Mecca to Al-Aqsa during the Night Journey, and then on to heaven. The dome of the rock, which is, technically speaking, not part of the Al-Aqsa mosque albeit within the same compound, is built right on the location where the second temple formerly stood. This makes the temple-mount, and by extension the base of the mount and other parts of the structure holy to both Jews and Muslims.

Over time, since the destruction of the second temple, Jews gained and lost access to Jerusalem and subsequently the Western wall, but by 1929 Jews had complete access to the western wall for religious purposes, albeit not the temple mount above it itself, as it was historically and by 1929 not approved by the local Muslim governing body of Jerusalem and the temple mount (the Waqf).

The Shaw commission, which was the result of a British commission of inquiry investigating the violent unrest in 1929 Palestine, concluded that an obscure 'incident' took place in September of 1925 that resulted in a ban for Jews to bring any seats and benches to the wall even though they were intended for the old and infirm. This hostility towards Jewish worshipers at the Western wall and the general paranoia in regards to Jews being there can be explained by the speech of Zionist leader Menachem Ussishkin several months earlier, who had gave a speech demanding "a Jewish state without compromises and without concessions, from Dan to Be'er Sheva, from the great sea to the desert, including Transjordan.", and concluded with "Let us swear that the Jewish people will not rest and will not remain silent until its national home is built on our Mt Moriah," a reference to the Temple Mount. The ban on chairs and benches can also be attributed to Muslim fears of Jews attaching furniture to the wall due to concerns about Zionist expropriation of the site and violating the Ottoman status-quo.

The Shaw commission also detailed a second 'incident' that contributed to the unrest in Palestine, this time the incident took place on September 24th, 1928, a day coinciding with Yom Kippur, a Jewish holy day. Jews praying at the Western Wall on Yom Kippur placed chairs and a mechitza (dividing panel used to separate men and women during Jewish prayer) that looked like a simple room divider of cloth covering a few wooden frames to separate the men and women. Jerusalem's British commissioner Edward Keith-Roach, while visiting a Muslim religious court building overlooking the prayer area, mentioned to a constable that he had never seen it at the wall before, although the constable had seen it earlier that day and had not given it any attention. The sheikhs hosting the commissioner immediately protested the screen on the grounds that it violated the Ottoman status quo forbidding Jews from bringing physical structures, even temporary furniture, into the area due to Muslim fears of Zionist expropriation of the site. The sheikhs disclaimed responsibility for what could happen if the screen was not taken down, and Keith-Roach told the Ashkenazic beadle to remove the screen because of the Arabs' demands. The beadle requested that the screen remained standing until the end of the prayer service, to which Keith-Roach agreed. While the commissioner was visiting a synagogue, Attorney General Norman Bentwich had his request to keep the screen until after the fast rejected by the commissioner, who ordered the constable to ensure it was removed by morning. The constable feared the screen meant trouble, and had the commissioners order signed and officially stamped, speaking again with the beadle that evening. When the screen remained in the morning, the constable sent ten armed policemen to remove it. The policemen charged the small group near the screen and were urged by nearby Arab residents to attack the assembled Jews. Jewish worshipers who had gathered began to attack the policemen. The screen was eventually destroyed by the policemen. The constable had infuriated his superiors due to his use of excessive force without good judgement, but the British government later issued a statement defending his actions.