"Covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict requires both a strong stomach and a fertile imagination," writes Selim Saheb Ettaba, who recently left Jerusalem after four years as AFP's chief correspondent for Gaza and the West Bank. "However fond you are of eggplant, would you really want to eat it at every single meal, in an infinite variety of preparations, mashed or whole, stuffed, grilled or baked, plain or marinated? That was, in essence, the question facing me as I prepared to take up the job."