Women of the Wall betrayed its principles and sold other women down the river, some of the women who built the group are claiming.

There has been jubilation in Women of the Wall (Wow) after it reached an agreement with the Israeli government last week whereby the existing prayer area will remain under Orthodox control while another part of the Wall will be home to an "egalitarian" prayer area.

The breakaway Original Women of the Wall, which represents 25 people, is decrying the deal as a "travesty". One of its members, Phyllis Chesler, a Wow founder, has claimed that "Orwellian" language is being used to convince people that "a defeat is really a victory".

The problem, another campaigner Cheryl Birkner Mack said, was that "the price was to give up my right and the rights of every other Jewish woman to pray as they want".

In her opinion, the new prayer area will never have the gravitas of the stretch of Kotel where people currently pray, and it constitutes a victory for Charedim who want Wow to hold its services elsewhere. "It's a betrayal, it's a capitulation to the bullying of those Charedim who oppose us," said Ms Birkner Mack.