Category Archives: Life in Israel

‘Very Time Sensitive’ – Write now publish tomorrow

articles on writing, Life in Israel,

 

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 If you live in Israel, as I do, every few years events occur which beg to be written about- NOW.

Often it’s to show the outside world the truth of what is really happening here.
Most of the world’s media give a totally distorted picture of events in Israel

Sometimes it’s to show  friends and family what life here is really like  under pressure.

But events on the ground change fast and yesterday’s terror attacks are old news today and almost irrelevant tomorrow.

If you want to write about the ‘situation’ and get it published your story will be VERY TIME SENSITIVE, and its up to you to make the editor realize this.

This  applies to anyone writing about a timely current situation anywhere in the world.

8 Ways to get your very time sensitive story published

1. Find a new/ different angle to the events.

Without minimizing the fear every mother has when she sends her children off to school every morning, and I’ve been through it many times, it has been written about frequently. If you  want to help show what it’s like to live under the constant threat of terror and have it published you’re going to  have to find a different angle, one that hasn’t been written about before.
Maybe interview a teacher who has to explain to little children why the school is under lock down when a terror attack has occurred nearby and security forces aren’t sure f there is another terrorist at large.
Perhaps speak to business owners in downtown Jerusalem  who see a 60% decrease in customers.
Find out from shops which sell guns how much their business has increased.

Stick to one particular point / angle. Don’t try and cover the whole situation in one article.

If you are writing an essay about your own experience or fears or how your daily routine has changed,   pick an aspect that hasn’t been written about. Remember you aren’t writing a news article.  Make it personal, the more specific details you include the better your essay will be.

2. Write your piece

Don’t spend too long on the writing – not that the writing should be second rate but you want to get this sent off as soon as possible. Sit down and write it from beginning to end. Read it through out loud. Does it flow? Does it sound like you’re talking to a friend? When you read it out loud you’ll notice awkward sentences, sentences that are too long and words you are repeating too often. If you stumble over a sentence when you’re reading it so will your readers – rewrite it.

If you are writing for a regular newspaper your style is likely to be different to when you write for a Jewish/ religious publication

3.Leave it for an hour.

Go back and edit it again. Proof read for grammar and spelling and read it out loud once more.

4. Send it to a writer friend

You don’t have time to wait a day or two and get some objective distance . But if someone else reads it they are likely to notice errors you missed. They can also check that it flows well and is logical.

5. Submit it

It’s probably no use sending to a monthly magazine. Some weeklies may take it but if they are in the shops on Friday then they probably go to press on about Tuesday so make sure to send your piece by Monday.

Daily publications are usually the best for these kind of articles.

6.Write VERY TIME SENSITIVE in the subject line.

Your  essay   may be considered an op-ed ( opinion piece) in which case it’s possible that you wont’ be paid. If receiving pay is important to you then  make it clear in your covering letter by asking what their rate of pay is. Many professional writers who usually write for pay are willing to forgo the pay when they have something they really want ‘ the world’ to understand.

7.Cover email

In your cover email, write that if you haven’t heard from the editor within 48 hours you will assume he is not interested and feel free to submit elsewhere.
If you decide to submit to several publications at the same time then put SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSION quite clearly in your letter.
Some publications may not look at it as they aren’t prepared to participate in a race, but most understand the need for a fast decision with these articles.

8 Where to send it

This site contains the contact information and guidelines for many newspapers which take op-eds. However be aware that the information is over 7 years old so contact details cannot be assumed to be correct today, you will need to check it out.
However there are a lot of helpful and instructive tips regarding writing about current situations that is worth reading.

Gush Katif – 10 years on

Life in Israel, , ,

Rachel Saperstein 2009

It was July 2009 – four years after the  Gush Katif expulsion. I was on the hills of Givat Chazan in  Lachish and  running to keep up with 68 year old  Rachel Saperstein, a former resident of Neve Dekalim, for an article I was writing.

The Hills of LAchish before building began on Bnei Dekalim

We were striding across the hills of Lachish while she was excitedly  pointing out where her future house would be , the clinic, the shops, the shul, the yeshiva.
Neve Dekalim had been the cultural center of Gush Katif and Saperstein had been their English language spokesperson during the harrowing months leading up to the expulsion.

For three years, after a year in a Jerusalem hotel,  she had been living in a ‘caravilla’   (cardboard boxes as the residents describe them) while waiting for financial compensation and building permission from the government.Now it had been finally granted and the tractors were due to move in to prepare the infrastructure for their new home and settlement.

Thank G’d her dream and vision is now coming to fruition …slowly. A few people have moved into the new Bnei Dekalim but there is still much work and building to be done.

Bnei Dekalim being rebuilt

Other settlements managed to get moving a little quicker and their moshavim  are already looking more settled and lived in.

July 2015 The new settlement of Ganei Tal in Lachish – 10 years after the expulsionGanei Tal in LAchish

This week I went on a tour of new settlements with  International Young Israel Movement.

It’s a pleasure to see the new homes, shuls, schoools and ganim but nothing can make up for the unbearably long time it has taken for this to happen.

The story of the  bureaucratic  bungling, whether just a typical Israeli mess-up or deliberate, has been chewed over endlessly in the last few weeks. But the fact is that only  now 10 years later most of the former residents of Gush Katif are getting their lives back on track – and some of them can’t even afford to do it now.

How much money   they received from the government depended on a zillion different factors but they finally received it many  years after they were thrown out of their previous homes.

If untouched the money would be  enough  to build something. It was not enough to build anything like their lovely homes in Gush Katif but something smaller. In the meantime many of them  have been unemployed for 10 years ( try leaving a thriving farm at the age of 50 – 60 and  getting another job somewhere) and they have had to use their money for food and daily expenses , including  rent, children’s education / college etc as they had and still have, no income whatsoever. What they have left now is not enough to build a home of any size.

But the community spirit of Gush Katif lives on and those who are building are not going to leave those who can’t afford to build behind. They are urging to government to give extra allowances to people who have had to use their compensation to live on.

 

Nitzan 2015

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Some people chose to remain in Nitzan, where they lived in  caravillas ,and build their permanent homes there. Nitzan was also chosen for the temporary site of the Gush Katif Commemoration Center.

The Gush Katif Monument – a Magen David split by a palm tree – designed by the Shevu brothers.

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The story of the last months of the Gush is told to begin with through the eyes of the last  child born in Gush Katif. He tries to understand why his mother can’t bear to talk about his old home or see pictures of their old settlement. Films, newspapers, artwork and personal videos tell us the story from the beginnings of  Gush Katif  in the 1970s when it was  built with the blessing and encouragement of the Israeli government and army.  And finally we see  the months of  unsurety , the belief that ‘ it couldn’t happen’, to the final heartbreaking days when soldiers and police came to pull the residents from their homes, before sending in bulldozers to destroy the beautiful houses.

Each guide at this center lived in one of the settlements and so each one has his or her own personal story to tell, none of which are easy to hear.  Teenagers were amongst those the most affected, with the ideals and dreams they had been brought up with thrown back in their faces. Suicide, drugs and crime as well as loss of faith plagued this age group for some time and divorce  amongst parents going through the trauma was also not unknown.
Our guide left the room after switching on some of the videos depicting the last days. It was too painful for her to relive the trauma day after day.

There is some beautiful artwork in the center including this one which includes something from every shul in the Gush.DSC00335

The ex Gush Katifers do not by any means wallow in the past. But ten years is a long time and many children growing up now have no recollection of the area at all so they are determined to keep the memory alive.

They are all looking to a bright future in their new homes…with one proviso. If the government were to say they could go back to their old settlements, every one said  they’d be on their way home today.