Above, the July 20 cover of Time Out Tel Aviv, based on the famous 1970's New Yorker cover

Ramsay Short and Amir Ben-David, editors of Time Out Beirut and Time Out Tel Aviv, met four months ago and became instant friends. Since the Mideast conflict began, the that friendship has been strained, to say the least. Time Out Beirut has suspended publication, and "half his staff has fled." Short's has chronicled his experiences on his blog, Beirut Live.

The two still exchange e-mails, here reproduced by Time Out Chicago. Writes Amir: "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."