BCU hosts guest speaker

By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
Posted May 15, 2003

Briar Cliff University hosted a renowned American foreign policy and Middle East expert in the St. Francis Center on the Briar Cliff Campus.

Dr. Stephen Berk gave his lecture, titled "The Middle East: the United States at the Crossroads," at 7 p.m. on May 8. The lecture focused on the war in Iraq, the long term conflict between Arabs and Israelis, the proposed "road map" for the Middle East sponsored by the multinational coalition and the United States' policies and interests in the Middle East.

"The key to peace between the Arabs and the Israelis is a cessation of ardence on the part of the Palestinians and the Israelis," said Berk. "The essential problem in the Middle East today is the same as it has been going back 70 to 80 years. There is justice on both sides. I believe in a two state solution. There should be a Palestinian state west of the River Jordan. It should live side by side with the state of Israel."

His lecture was co-sponsored by Briar Cliff University and the Jewish Federation of Sioux City. Following the lecture was a question and answer session and reception with the speaker.

"I think it's a great example of what can be done in our community when two forces sort of join together and find a common cause and bring something that will not only expand and enrich our students' educational experience, but enrich and expand the minds of all of those in the Siouxland community," said Trish Wieland, director of university and community relations at Briar Cliff.

Berk is currently the Florence B. Sherwood Chair in History and Culture at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y. He is a scholar, teacher and writer and has lectured throughout the United States and Canada including Princeton and Vanderbilt Universities.

"The United States must move both sides to a certain position," said Berk. "For the Palestinians, two things must be made clear. One, there can be no movement in the direction of peace, the 'road map' will not get off the ground unless there is a cessation of ardence. Two, it should be done civilly, gently and with love and affection and with compensation. The Palestinian people have to be told that they are not going home. There can be no return of the refugees, no Israelis government.

"The Israelis must agree to a Palestinian state on virtually all of the West Bank. That is what the United States can pressure together with European powers and all those people in the world who do in fact want this, and they must come up with a substantial sum of money, too, if we are to compensate the Palestinian refugees for their losses in 1980."

He is a highly regarded international consultant and has written several articles on Russian history, anti-Semitism and American policy in the Middle East. Berk is the author of the best-selling book, Year of Crisis, Year of Hope: Russian Jewry and the Pogroms of 1881-1882. He is working on his next book which is entitled, Our People are Your People: American Jewry and the Struggle for Civil Rights, 1954-1965.