Scared Sderotis to camp in Tel Aviv

The Qassam rockets' red glare and bloody consequences menace the residents of Sderot, and despite nearly 180 homemade rockets fired in the past week, the spate of militant attacks shows no sign of stopping. That's why a thousand not-so-happy campers from Sderot will trickle into a tent city erected for them in a Tel Aviv park tonight. This is not a government refugee camp, but the brainstorm of the brash Israeli tycoon, Arkady Gaydamak.
The Russian immigrant with deep pockets built a similar camp under canvas last summer, during the war against Hezbollah, when some Sderot residents shifted to his tent city in Nitzanim. Most of the people who live within easy rocket range of the Gaza Strip are Russian or Ethiopian immigrants. One woman was killed by shrapnel on Monday as she walked home to fetch a sweater for her elderly mother.
Israeli officials refused to give Gaydamak a permit when he proposed Jerusalem's Saker Garden to house the refugees, but he has pushed ahead and found a green site on the edge of Tel Aviv. Giving free entry to local water parks might entertain these jumpy children. Their screams of delight will be a change from screams of fear, and a little distraction is welcome. Surely the government aims to tackle the Qassam problem before Oprah Winfrey, the American chat show queen, arrives to dispense hugs and solidarity under the world's spotlight. Olmert better get cracking.