>>>In the okd yishuv of yerushalayim, say during the time of rav shmuel salant, people went to the kosel unfettered.
That is only somewhat true. The site was under control of the Wakf who did not allow Jews to do anything that implied they had ownership . In 1840, way before the Zionists came around they already forbade the Jews who wanted to do so from paving right in front of the Kosel. There are other reports in Jewish newspapers written before the Zionists of Jews being beaten and harassed on their way to or at the kosel. The major fight in 1911 over whether Jews can bring chairs when they daven at the kosel was not a fight with or because of any Zionist groups.