Addressing the packed Argentum Room in the Busch Memorial Center, guest lecturer Mark Ellis presented students and professors of Saint Louis University with a unique outlook on the issue of peace in the Middle East.

He expressed his views on the current Israeli-Palestinian relations through his talk, “Helicopters, Gunships, the Palestinians and the Future of the Jewish People.” His talk focused on the need for establishing peace in the Middle East.

Ellis has lectured on this topic since 1984, despite rising tensions between Palestine and Israel, and has spoken to many diverse audiences.

He is highly qualified to lecture on this particular topic because of his numerous honors and achievements.

He currently teaches American and Jewish Studies at Baylor University in Texas but has served as a visiting professor at Harvard University and the University of Florida.

Ellis also founded the Center for American and Jewish Studies at Baylor University and served as the first professor.

He has authored a collection of essays and 10 books, which have been translated into several languages. He is Jewish.

“I continue to talk about this because I am struggling to be faithful as a Jew in our times. That is the central motivation of my life,” Ellis said.

Ronald Modras professor of theological studies at SLU, teaches a number of classes on Judaism and related topics. He praised Ellis on his foresight and dedication to peace in Israel.

“He is one of the last of the great Hebrew prophets who represent self-critical Judaism. He is also a part of a very strong peace movement in Israel that there is so little attention about in the national media,” Modras said.

Ellis represents an opinion that differs from that of many people of the Jewish faith in regards to the ongoing struggle in the West Bank. He believes that the Israeli people have performed a great injustice toward the Palestinian people. Throughout history, the Jewish people have experienced oppression at the hands of others. In Ellis’s opinion, the Jews as a suffering people have become empowered.

“We have embarked on a project that seeks to terrorize and humiliate Palestinian men, women and children. We act as though we are innocent of all wrongdoing,” Ellis said in his lecture.

He stressed the point that millions of Jews and Palestinians live side by side but will never achieve reconciliation unless a simple confession is made. Elli said that Jews must admit this in order to achieve peace.

“The confession is that what we have done to the Palestinian people in the past is wrong and what we are doing today is wrong,” Ellis said.

“This includes Israel Jews and Western Jews who have remained silent about this issue. In fact silence is destroying the Jewish tradition and can bring an end to our history as well as killing Palestinians.”

Ellis speaks strongly about his opinion, although it appears that he is in the minority among Jews. In fact, most Jews who are opposed to what is occurring in Palestine are secularized or non-religious Jews; therefore, Ellis’s stance is unusual for his listeners who are expecting to hear the positive aspects of the Jewish role in Palestine-Israel relations.

“It was interesting to hear this perspective of peace coming from a person who is Jewish. He provoked a lot of thought on the issue,” said Justin Lampe, a junior who attended the lecture.

In addition to SLU, Ellis lectured at the United Methodist Church on Monday before leaving to spend the remainder of the week speaking in Ottawa.