INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING

Schedule one meeting every three months or so. After your initial meeting with the editorial board, you can schedule informal meetings with individual key people. Make sure you send them a thank you card - preferably both via email and snail mail. A thank you phone call is also good. G-THE REPORTS: The reports are your bread and butter: they are the evidence that gives substance to your arguments and your points, and prove that the Israelis are committing war crimes. If you accuse a paper that they rarely give the Palestinian Authority quote space, they will react by saying that no, they do. Unless you show them exactly, with details and figures, that they don’t, they will try to contradict you, even when they have no idea what they are talking about!

So, maintain those reports and keep them updated. You will be glad you did when you are facing the editorial board. A relatively painless way of doing this is to write a brief, daily critique of their stories. Highlight the most obvious violations point by point (3 or 4 points per story, total of a few lines). Show the violations of the Israelis. When it’s time to do the report, you will have all of those notes ready, rather than having to go back to the stories. This is of course easier said than done, but it is worth the trouble to try and discipline yourself. H-THE LETTERS: Make sure you keep writing your letters, and that you archive them. A summary of your critique sent out every few days will drive the point home that you are watching them very closely.

Conde Nast Traveller (UK) This will not only keep your name visible, but will give you a great archive to go back to for issues to raise during meetings. I-GENERAL ADVICE: Preparation is key. When you present an argument against Israel, make sure you simplify it and present only the strongest points. A well-known technique of shooting down arguments (unfairly) is to latch on to the weakest part of it, attack that part (even if it is incidental to the argument) and then claim victory when you step back on that point.

So, when you are presenting a set of facts, drop anything that you are not 100% sure of. And when dealing with a foreign desk, focus on FACTS rather than on opinions. View your task as a long term one. They need to understand that you will always be here. This will force them to develop a long term strategy of managing you as opposed to them trying to shoo you off - either by giving you something and expecting you thank them and then go away or by intimidating you by rebuking you strongly. Be persistent but don't be a pest in follow-ups with them. One mail every few days should be the average. But make sure you do not go too many days without having your name pop up in their mailbox. Be responsive and useful: whenever possible, be a resource for them that makes life easier and not tougher for them. When they ask for information, try to be as responsive as possible. And always be patient and polite.

Some Arab thinkers and strategists told me, that these new approaches shall “bear fruit”. The Israelis are using their influence, money, lobbying machine and intellect, backed with lies and deceit. We are using now the same techniques, except we are telling the truth, not lies as the Israelis have been doing since 1947.”