Dr. Reuven Firestone, a professor at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles, told a group of about 25 people in Thompson Hall yesterday that it is important to “acknowledge the religious requirements, expectations, and aspirations,” of all parties involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In his lecture, titled, “One Holy Land, Three Holy Peoples: Jewish, Christian and Islamic Regards for the ‘Holy Land’ and Their Impact on the Current Conflict,” Firestone, who has a doctorate in Arabic and Islamic Studies and is an ordained rabbi, took the opportunity to survey a variety of sources in Jewish, Christian and Islamic texts. He introduced his lecture by stressing the importance of reading these texts.

“Too many times, people will stand out in front of you and tell you their views on controversial issues … and often times, in my experience, [what they say] is not true,” he said.

Although using significant amounts of historical texts from all three viewpoints in his lecture, Firestone did not offer a definitive answer as to who is the rightful owner of Israeli land, and more specifically Jerusalem.

“To whom is Jerusalem most holy: Jews, Muslims, Christians?” he asked his audience.

Firestone did not answer this question, but he did acknowledge that Jerusalem is a holy place to all three religions for many reasons. He followed this point by saying that weighing those reasons, religious reasons, is not what is going to end the disagreement

“It’s not religion that is going to solve this conflict. You want to get religion out of the conflict,” he said.

He continued by saying that people have been using religion for a long time to make derogatory points in attempts to diminish the rights of others to live in the land.

“It’s very childish. Its name calling, and it’s happening today with a vengeance,” he said.

Firestone said that understanding the needs of other religions as well as respecting their desires is the first step towards resolving the conflict. He feels that if people can do this, it is possible to make progress in negotiations that have been halted so many times.

“I think they can get unstuck. It is possible to get unstuck,” he said.

Perhaps the biggest issue, according to Firestone, is the establishment of trust. He said that trust is going to be hard to gain, on both sides, citing the consistent pattern of beliefs, both Israeli and Palestinian, that one side is going to fraud the other side once concessions are made.

As an example of this, Firestone said that Israelis believe that if they give up Jerusalem, they won’t be allowed access to religious sites. This was the case before the Six Day War in 1967, when eastern Jerusalem was not part of Israel. Firestone thinks a lot of Israelis feel this will happen again.

Firestone suggested that the alternative to both sides attempting to gain trust is to wait and to continue on the current course with the current philosophies and policies.

“There’s a belief on both sides that if they just stick it out, they’re going to have it all,” Firestone said.

He claimed that the Palestinians see Israel as having only been around for a short time, and because of this, the Palestinians feel they may see independence in another generation. He also said that Israelis think that if the situation becomes more oppressive in the West Bank and Gaza, or if the oppressive situation that currently exists continues for longer, eventually, the Palestinians will move to other parts of the world, including the United States.

Right now, Firestone says, both sides want the land in its entirety. He says that for any conflict to be resolved, both sides must realize that neither one can have the entire thing.

The event was sponsored in part by the Jewish Student Union.