Students, faculty and staff filled into Emerson Suites Wednesday night as part of the Peggy R. Williams Difficult Dialogues Symposium where audience members were polarized on the controversial issue.

Mark Ellis, director of Jewish studies at Baylor University, and Sanford Gutman, professor emeritus of Jewish history at SUNY Cortland, discussed the topic of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The presentation, “Embracing the Broken Middle of Jerusalem: A Future for Jews and Palestinians?” was planned by the Difficult Dialogues committee to promote open and honest dialogue about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Beth Harris, professor of politics and member of the committee, said, both speakers come from a place of Jewish background, but they hold conflicting perspectives on the proper solution to the conflict. Ellis, a member of the prophetic or conscience approach to Judaism, identifies more with the Palestinians while Gutman, a member of the progressive Jewish position identifies more with the Israelis.

After a 45-minute lecture from Ellis, followed by a 10-minute critical response from Gutman, the presentation turned to the audience to ask questions on the subject. Harris said the symposium was organized this way to create a calm discussion format dealing with a controversial issue.

Harris said the symposium, named in honor of President Emerita Peggy Williams, was designed to bring speakers to the college who are experts on certain controversial issues and can bring these issues into an open public discussion atmosphere.

Harris said after hearing Williams talk about Ellis and his written works, the committee decided to host him as part of the symposium.

Ellis, a Jewish theologian, looks at Jewish ethics as being central to the construction of Jewish identity. He has written and spoken extensively on the complexities of the issue and how they relate to the politics of the United States and Israel. Ellis said the only way to solve the conflict is to end the cycle of violence between the Palestinians and Israelis and work towards living together to better the situation for future generations.

“The ethical position, or the prophetic position, calls on the primary identification with those who are most dispossessed and most vulnerable and in this case, he sees that as the Palestinians,” Harris said. “Central to his Jewish identity is his solidarity with the Palestinians and their struggle for freedom and human rights.”

Ellis also said the story of the conflict needs to be better balanced in the United States because it tends to be far too biased towards the Israeli perspective.

Gutman taught a course on modern Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict at the college two years ago and is currently teaching a course on modern Jewish history at Cornell University. While he said he ultimately hopes that Jews and Palestinians can live harmoniously in the same state, he thinks the immediate solution to the conflict requires the creation of two separate states between the Israelis and Palestinians.

Gutman said while he is sympathetic towards several of Ellis’s views, he does not agree with all of them.

“I don’t see either Jews or Judaism in quite the bad condition that he sees it,” he said. “I think there are a lot of movements among Jews that indeed emphasize the importance of ethics and the ethical tradition.”

Gutman also said the conflict needs to be looked at from both perspectives and Ellis often neglects to look at the negative actions of the Palestinians. He said he agrees with the fact that the Israelis have committed the atrocities Ellis accuses them of, however the Israelis have committed similar atrocities that need to be taken into account while discussing the issue.

“His criticism goes farther than I would in that he only sees it from the perspective of the sins of Israel and the mistakes and atrocities that Israelis have committed,” Gutman said. “He does not look at the conflict from the perspective of what the Arabs and Palestinians have done.”

Freshman Caryn Stark said she chose to attend the presentation because it is important to her, as a Jewish college student, to understand the topic.

“We have to face this problem,” she said. “It’s a really sticky situation and the more we learn, the better we can understand the issue and know what to say.”

Harris said the committee decided to bring both of these speakers to the college to show how this disagreement can be addressed in public.

“Both of them come from a place of Jewish collective identity, but they define it in a different way and that leads them to use different strategies in terms of how they go about seeking a solution,” she said.

Harris said the discussion about this topic is complex and has more angles than just two, but bringing Ellis and Gutman to speak was a good starting point to a much more intricate topic.

“We don’t think this is the only issue in relation to dialogues about Israel and Palestine,” Harris said. “But we think it’s an important one and one that is very controversial and worthy of discussion.”