Haim Watzman

Necessary Stories

Apply for a Blog

Mar 3, 2024, 1:55 PM

Roadblock, Holes Part 6

illustration by Mizmor Watzman

Once they passed Ofakim, where Ruth had cousins, she no longer knew where they were. Etti continued to drive, her eyes intent on the road, glancing occasionally in the rearview mirror at Ezra’s red Audi trailing them. No one...

Feb 25, 2024, 1:11 PM

Akatziya–Holes, Part 5

This silent girl who has just mussed his hair is really weird, Akatziya thinks. He looks questioningly at the two older women, the driver and the one next to her. He feels like he ought to try to start...

Feb 18, 2024, 5:57 PM

Sitra Ahra–Holes, Part 4

Etti watches the numbers race on the gas pump, up and up and more and more, just like the dead. One of the attendants, a slim young guy with a bandage over one eye, limps by, asks her if...

Feb 11, 2024, 4:56 PM

Naama–Holes, Part 3

Wikipedia/Creative Commons public domain

At first, Naama sees them as tanks deploying for combat but, when Etti’s car catches up with them, they resolve into trees. Acacias with crowns of dark green leaves, convoluted and crinkly and furrowed like the nets that soldiers...

Feb 4, 2024, 6:47 PM

War Stories: Fiction

Victory: Holes, Part 2

Photo by Neil Ward

Ruth took a deep breath: 'Who decides which soldiers get killed and which ones get to go home?'

Jan 28, 2024, 9:37 PM

She put her eye to the peephole. It was the man she had shared her bed with for 48 years

Jan 21, 2024, 2:26 PM

War Stories: Fiction

Prospero underground: The crater (part 5)

'This whole country, we’re all hurting, we’re all horrified by what happened, and all we can think about is more death.'

Jan 14, 2024, 2:40 PM

War Stories: Fiction

What a soldier never has: The crater (part 4)

Gidi wandered through the gutted house, into a bedroom with a children’s bunk bed, with slashed and bloodstained mattresses

Jan 6, 2024, 7:54 PM

War Stories: Fiction

Sticky kids: The crater (part 3)

Illustration by Avi Katz

I want to tell Gidi I can’t take it anymore. It’s not fair I’m the one who has to try to explain to the children what’s going on

Dec 30, 2023, 11:57 PM

The Crater (part 2)

Abadai leaned over Gidi’s shoulder. 'We’re here to rescue you. Either unbolt the door or we shoot it open.'

Load more

About Me

Haim Watzman is a Jerusalem-based writer and playwright. He is also one of the leading translators of Hebrew works into English, with more than 50 books to his credit. An archive of his stories and more information about his books and translations can be found on his website.