Israeli Kids Get Rocket-Proofed Indoor Playground

I found this story on the website of Newsweek-International Edition.

There are a couple of things I found interesting about this article. I couldn't help but notice that the playground is located in the same town that received a visit from Joe the Plumber/Reporter.
I also noticed how the story focused on the physical and emotional toll of the children of Sderot and the extra precautions they have to take. The lede of this story was set up in a way with the goal to bring shock-value to the reader.

"(SDEROT, Israel) Brightly painted walls surround a mini-soccer field, video games, a climbing wall and play areas. The converted warehouse also has a new thick concrete roof, a half dozen shelters and an alert system to give a 15-second warning of incoming rockets. The children of Sderot finally have a safe place to play."

By juxtaposing the fun aspect of the playground with the security measures, the writer forces the reader to envision a sort of military base(obviously without weapons training) for children, and then unveiling in the last sentence that this is a playground, the writer tries to engage the reader's emotions.
The writer then goes on to tell of the tramatization of almost everyone in the village of Sderot after suffering many Palestinian rocket attacks.

"Eight Sderot residents have been killed, hundreds wounded and nearly everyone in the working-class town of 24,000 has been traumatized by the frequent wail of sirens and explosions of the thousands of rockets that have hit over the past eight years.

Dozens of rockets have come down just since Israel's January offensive in Gaza ended. On Tuesday, Israeli aircraft hit a militant rocket squad in northern Gaza, wounding three, just after they fired rockets at Israel."

Even without any statistics, the reader can easily get the impression that Palestinians are the main agressors. It is easy to miss that an Israeli aircraft wounded three in just one day. The toll on Israel is lumped together into eight years. I also found it intresting that the writer felt it was important to mention that this Israeli airstrike was in response of rockets that were fired into Israel.
The article goes on to say that the playground, which cost $5 million, was funded by the US branch of Jewish National Fund.
While I am glad that the Israeli children of Sderot now have a safe place to play, it concerns me how one-sided this article was. I understand that this is not a "hard-hitting" news piece- it is more like a feature. However, the writer failed to mention if there was anything being done for Palestinian children, and barely mentioned Palestinian losses.
The article achieved it's goal of showing something most people take for granted- a playground- a luxury in war-torn Israel. However, by not including anything about Palestinian children, one can assume that Palestinian children do not even have this luxury. While it is nice to know that now the children in Sderot can play in safety, the more important part of this story, in my opinion, is neglected- that the Palestinian children cannot.