SDEROT, Israel  – At the New Age Beauty Salon in a
run-down strip mall here, the manicurist and hairdresser swap opinions of
Barack Obama, the latest in a series of high-profile visitors to come through
this southern Israeli town.

"Is
there a chance I’ll be able to give him a hug?" jokes Yaffa Malka, 44, the
salon’s hairdresser and owner. "He’s cute, and besides that I trust him.
I’m not sure why, but something about him seems genuine to me. He seems like
one of us, someone who knows about difficult times."

Her
friend and co-worker Gila Vazana, the manicurist, says Sderot, the rocket-weary
town adjacent to the Gaza Strip, can use all the friends it can get —
especially if that friend might be the next U.S. president.

"We
need America to be with us and for us all of the time," says Vazana, her
long blond ponytail falling down her back.

Soon
after their conversation, Obama’s helicopter touches down in the Negev town.

The
U.S. senator from Illinois’ first stop is the Amar family home, which was
largely destroyed when a Kassam rocket crashed through its roof, injuring the
mother with flying pieces of shrapnel. The family members, like many of their
neighbors in Sderot, suffer from the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder.

A
crowd of some 100 people gathers outside the family’s new home during Obama’s
visit, and the presumptive Democratic nominee for U.S. president briefly walks
among them to say hello and shake hands.

Tours
of Sderot have become part of the unofficial protocol of visits to Israel by
both visiting dignitaries and tour groups wishing to show solidarity. Like any
site of pilgrimage, rituals have developed.

The
usual stops include a visit to a home damaged by Kassam fire, where a meeting
is set up with the resident family. The tour then moves to the police station,
where a makeshift Kassam museum has been set up with hundreds of the rockets on
display, the dates they landed on or near Sderot painted on their sides.

Visitors
also often are taken to a hill on the edge of town where they can see into
Gaza. It’s nicknamed Kobi Hill after the town’s chief security officer, who
rushes there after Kassams land to see from where they were fired.

It’s
mostly quiet these days in Sderot following an Egypt-brokered truce deal
between Hamas and Israel that is more than a month old. But most of those who
live here assume the lull is temporary and that terrible surprises await from
Hamas, the Islamic terrorist group that rules Gaza.

Reporter
Nissim Kanan, who covers Sderot and southern Israel for Israel Radio, says part
of the excitement here surrounding Obama’s visit is the sense that he can bring
change not just to America but also to Sderot.

Sderot
is a working-class town of old-timer immigrant families from Morocco and more
recent arrivals from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union, and many of them see
Obama as a man of the people, he says.

"People
see Obama as the underdog and McCain as an elitist,” he says, comparing Obama
to his presumed Republican rival, U.S. Sen. John McCain (R.-Ariz.).

“People
here like to see people in power that they identify with.”

"Obama?
He’s a man of the people," says Avner Chen, 38, a taxi driver taking his
lunch at a falafel restaurant. "I hope he will see Sderot and remember us,
what we are living with, and help us.”

During
his news conference in the city, Obama seems to answer Chen’s call.

"I
will work from the moment I return to America to tell the story of Sderot and
to make sure that the good people who live here are enjoying a future of peace,
security and hope," he says.

Next
door to the New Age Beauty Salon is the new office of The Israel Project, an
organization that works to promote Israel’s security by providing resources to
foreign journalists here. Its heavy glass doors and shiny new office equipment
stand in stark contrast to the nearby stores, which have broken signs.

"This
is a community in crisis, and that people should want to come and show their
solidarity here is perfectly understandable and laudable," says Marcus
Sheff, the executive director of the Israel office of The Israel Project.

As
Obama finishes his news conference at the Sderot police station, Mayor Eli
Moyal brings him a T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan "I Love Sderot.”

The
word “love” is represented by a red heart, its Cupid’s bow replaced with a
Kassam rocket.