{"id":352,"date":"2019-10-11T13:18:35","date_gmt":"2019-10-11T13:18:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thanassiscambanis.com\/sipa\/?p=352"},"modified":"2019-10-11T13:18:35","modified_gmt":"2019-10-11T13:18:35","slug":"determined-optimism-in-protracted-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thanassiscambanis.com\/sipa\/2019\/10\/determined-optimism-in-protracted-conflict\/","title":{"rendered":"Determined Optimism in Protracted Conflict"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Liran,

Liran, right, leads SIPA students on a trip to Israel in January 2019.<\/p><\/div>\n

BY JILLIAN TIMKO<\/p>\n

I first met Liran Braude during orientation week at Columbia\u2019s School of International and Public Affairs. He grinned, shook my hand, and then kindly demonstrated the correct pronunciation of his name, \u201cLee-run,\u201d by pumping his arms up and down as if running a race. Later, over a round of beers in Harlem with him and a few other students, I heard Liran say for the first of many times that he came to SIPA to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.<\/p>\n

A former Israeli paratrooper, Liran\u2019s commitment to this stalled and divisive conflict has taken different forms and overcome many obstacles throughout his life. But instead of giving in to disillusion and bitterness, he remains determined to make a difference.<\/span><\/p>\n

Born in apartheid South Africa to a Jewish family, Liran moved to San Diego with his parents and two brothers at the age of 13. The summer before beginning college at UC Santa Barbara, he went on a birthright trip to Israel. While visiting Mount Herzl, Israel\u2019s national cemetery, some active-duty Israeli soldiers found the graves of friends and began sharing their stories with other trip participants. In this moment, Liran had an epiphany.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI realized my whole family has been fleeing anti-Semitism forever, and how important it was to have a country to live where we were safe as Jews, free from persecution,\u201d said Liran during an interview. Two of his grandparents emigrated from Lithuania to South Africa to escape anti-Semitic pogroms in the former Soviet Union. Another was an Austrian Holocaust survivor, and the fourth was descended from Jews who fled Spain during the Inquisition and settled in what is now Israel at least 250 years ago. Liran cancelled his flight back to San Diego, put his college education on hold, and joined the IDF, where he served for two and a half years in the 101<\/span>st<\/span> Airborne Division.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Liran said this decision was completely out of character for him, shocking his friends and family members. He described himself as conflict-averse, someone who had never wanted to fight anyone, who hated guns and was afraid of heights. \u201cI joined to protect everyone, not harm anyone in particular. Including Palestinians,\u201d said Liran.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Liran\u2019s role within his unit was the lead light machine gunner, who led from the front and was charged with providing cover fire for his unit during combat operations. \u201cI can\u2019t claim that everything works cleanly because it doesn\u2019t,\u201d Liran said. \u201cBut our guiding light is to do everything in our power to safeguard human life, including militants.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

During his service, Liran won an award for \u201cMost Outstanding Soldier.\u201d He also became very disillusioned with his ability to make an impact on the conflict as a member of the military. He had hoped to change the way settlers and Palestinians interacted by being an exemplary IDF soldier and demonstrating goodwill to his surrounding community. But while he was stationed in Hebron, one of the Palestinian children who he often played soccer with tried to stab another soldier. Liran realized he was na\u00efve. \u201cOne soldier like me was not going to change the conflict,\u201d he said. His previously self-identified right-wing views softened, and he became \u201cpretty miserable\u201d by the end of his service.<\/span><\/p>\n

He returned to UC Santa Barbara in 2010 to complete his undergraduate degree, majoring in economics and accounting and planning to leave the conflict behind for a career in business. But various events, including a controversial BDS divestment campaign at his university and the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict, pulled him back. Liran described the divestment campaign as vicious, and that he had felt obligated to defend his anti-BDS position on campus. During the 2014 Gaza war, he \u201ccould not care less\u201d about his studies. At some point, he asked himself why he was trying to work on Wall Street when his heart was clearly still focused on protecting the Jewish people.<\/p>\n

By graduation Liran had dropped his ambition of working in finance, instead getting a job at the Anti-Defamation League in San Diego, believing that one strategy for protecting the rights of Jews was protecting the rights of all people. However, he soon came to believe that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was exacerbating anti-Semitism around the world, and resolving the conflict was actually the best way to protect the Jewish community. \u201cThat\u2019s why I went to SIPA,\u201d he said. \u201cWith the aim of resolving the conflict.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nearly two years later, he remains resolute. While he is no stranger to how hostile this topic can be on university campuses, he says that the conversation in graduate school is more mature. \u201cPeople have strong opinions and that\u2019s expected. But the ability\u2026to be able to sit down and have an ongoing relationship [with students from Palestine], and exchange ideas and have honest conversations\u2026it\u2019s unbelievably refreshing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liran specifically referred to Farah Abu Sahliya, a Palestinian SIPA student. Farah likewise appreciates his friendship with Liran. \u201cIt\u2019s been interesting and challenging. We disagree on so much regarding the conflict, but we\u2019ve somehow found a way to become friends\u2026I don\u2019t often get to hear Israeli views and perspectives from an actual person, particularly one that is eager to hear my views on things.\u201d The two recently got dinner to debrief on the student trips they each led over winter break to Israel and Palestine, sharing the narratives that each trip was focused on but also catching up on their personal lives.<\/p>\n

After graduation, Liran plans to return to Tel Aviv, enroll in an intensive Arabic course, and then seek a job at an NGO or in the Israeli government. He quickly adds that he doesn\u2019t want to seem idealistic, as if he knows he comes across that way. \u201cI have no illusions about [the conflict]. It\u2019s a mess. It\u2019s a complex, multifaceted, layered situation that will take generations to untangle and resolve\u2026But if you know you\u2019re starting from the gutter and working your way up, there\u2019s only one direction to go.\u201d<\/span>