Dear Ramsay,
We were very sad and concerned to get your heartbreaking e-mail. We hope you will be able to not blame us for the brutal bombardment of Beirut, as we don’t blame you personally for the bombardment of the north of Israel and other provocations done by Hezbollah militants.

It is so sad to know that on a personal level we can be friends, have vodka together on the lovely beaches of Cyprus and talk about future cooperation between TOB and Time Out Tel Aviv, but on a “national” level, we are enemies who are ruining each other’s lives, time and time again.

We feel deeply for you and your friends and loved ones. The thought of Beirut burning because of our army’s acts brings tears to our eyes. As we said in our conversations in Cyprus, all we want is for Lebanon and Israel to prosper side by side in peace and harmony. As said many times, if people like you and us would be setting the tone in our area, life could be peaceful, creative, joyful and, above all, normal. But it seems that this area, washed with extremist ideas and centuries of violence, is not ready for this era.We wish to send you and all your dear ones our deepest concerns and our prayers for your safety.
—Amir Ben-David

Hi, Amir.
Thanks for the e-mail. Obviously we are friends and have spoken and enjoyed each other’s company, and the policies of your government are not yours, I hope. I wish I could have a different opinion of Israel’s actions, but for me this is no way to deal with Hezbollah and will only hurt the region more. I have only the best regards for you, [publisher] Yuval [Sigler] and TOTA.

I hope this can be over soon so we can get what has been a wonderful project in TOB back off the ground. They are flying above me as we speak. So unnecessary. All of Lebanon is shut down. Hezbollah is not the Lebanese people.Peace to you all,
Ramsay

WE ARE DYING here. The nation is in ruins. Bombs are dropping over my head as I write this. I don’t know when they might fall on me. I keep ducking. I woke up this morning to a bomb. It was directed at Beirut Port immediately next to where I live. It hit some trucks and killed two civilians. Where was Hezbollah?

The Beirut we know is gone….It is already like a dream. We are in a new era. The region is in a new era. A dark era.Thank you again for your wishes, but what I don’t hear from any of you is unequivocal condemnation of Israel’s murderous, barbaric and cowardly assault on this country—one of the only countries in the Arab world that is actually a democracy, albeit one based on religion.

Over 200 people are dead—all of them civilians or Lebanese army, none of them Hezbollah. Israel’s attacks will never beat Hezbollah. They’ll fight to the last man because they see it as a war of resistance to occupation, much like the Palestinians. And if you call these people terrorists, what is Israel, terrorizing a nation of people who have nothing to do with Hezbollah.

I consider you and Yuval friends, but how can you sit there and let the name of your nation, which once stood for so much, be dragged into the darkest of hells? I can’t believe that you two, who I know as good, moral, decent people, are not in the streets protesting, because this attack will not be a solution. It will…only worsen the situation for normal Israelis, because all it is doing is creating more hatred toward your nation. Peace is not brought about by war. It never has been. See Iraq. Find a way to neutralise Hezbollah, but not this way. There can only be a diplomatic solution.

I urge all of you to stop this madness before it’s too late. And to remember that Arabs are not illiterate scum, as the Western media so often portrays. Extremists are extremists, but there is a deep, rich culture in this part of the world made up of Arabs (who are not necessarily Muslims) and [those] who believe in all religions. This is partly what we were documenting with TOB. Perhaps this is not the place for these words. I am writing as a human being, not as a journalist. But people must hear the voices from here. I am so deeply sad that this TOB dream that we were forging with such conviction…is over so tragically and so murderously.

I leave you with this story: TOB photographer Nadim Khalil grew up most of his life in the U.S. He’s a Shiite Lebanese from the south. He doesn’t have much, but is a damn good photographer. He now sees his one-time home in the southern suburbs of Beirut demolished … his brother is staying in his small studio apartment wounded from the attack, and his parents are stuck in the south of Lebanon and can’t escape because the roads have been destroyed. A week ago, he was taking pictures of rock bands and nightclubs. Now he’s photographing the ruins of his home, trying to get his parents out of no-man’s-land and putting his life at risk to get pics for newspapers for a mere $50 a pop.
—Ramsay

Dear Ramsay,
First and foremost, we follow with great concern your whereabouts and hope you and your loved ones are safe.

Although this is no competition over who suffers more, the situation here in Israel is far from satisfactory: 1,500 of Hezbollah’s missiles hit our northern cities, killing innocent civilians, causing heavy damage and forcing tens of thousands to leave their homes. Tel Aviv itself is under a constant threat of missile attacks. Naturally, Israelis are now concerned with their own losses.

Despite this general atmosphere, we believe your voice should be carried out to the Israeli public. We therefore dedicated our main feature to your full and exact testimony as received by e-mail. We hope that by carrying your voice we will be able to open the public’s eyes and heart to the suffering of the Lebanese people.
—Amir and Yuval

Updated: Find out how Short and Ben-David are getting along and how they feel about the current ceasefire. Also, read Time Out New York's interviews with Short and Ben-David, and listen to the editors being interviewed on public radio's "Weekend America."