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In Sderot, Obama is seen as "man of the people."

Question: Is it illegal to

drive while talking on a handheld
cell phone?

Answer: It is illegal in many

U.S. cities to drive while using a
handheld cell phone, but you have
options if you need to talk while
driving. With a Bluetooth*-enabled
phone and a hands-free kit, you
can drive safely and avoid expensive
tickets. We have over 50 headsets
available that are much cheaper
and cooler than getting ticketed by
the police.

Question: I use my
cigarette lighter charger everyday
to power up my phone and now it
will not hold a charge! Why?

Answer:

A cigarette lighter
charger is not meant to be used to
constantly charge and power your
phone. It is recommended that you
use the cigarette charger only when
absolutely necessary and not leave
it plugged in while driving for
more than 2 hours. Also don't start
your engine or turn it off when the
phone is plugged into a charger.

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A22

July 31 ' 2008

1386600

Dina Kraft

Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Sderot, Israel

A

t the New Age Beauty Salon in
a run-down strip mall here,
the manicurist and hairdress-
er 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 dif-
ficult 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 shrap-
nel. The family members, like many of
their neighbors in Sderot, suffer from
the effects of post-traumatic stress dis-
order.
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 digni-
taries 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 fam-
ily. The tour then moves to the police
station, where a makeshift Kassam
museum has been set up with hundreds

Barack Obama listens as Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni speaks in front of a
display of Palestinian Kassam rockets at the Sderot police station on July 23.

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 llamas and Israel that is more
than a month old. But most of those
who live here assume the lull is tempo-
rary and that terrible surprises await
from llamas, the Islamic terrorist group
that rules Gaza.

Change For Change
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 under-
dog 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 confer-
ence at the Sderot police station, Mayor
Eli Moyal brings him a T-shirt embla-
zoned with the slogan "I Love Sderot!'
The word "love" is represented by a
red heart, its Cupid's bow replaced with
a Kassam rocket. 0