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Mayor Eli Moyal talks with Governor Jon Corzine near racks of hundreds of missile shells fired from Gaza over the past year into Sderot, Israel on Wednesday, July 23, 2008. (Governor\'s Office/Tim Larsen)

“We will not leave. We have no other place to live,” said the guide, Shalom Halevi. “The citizens of Sderot are very brave.”

Corzine clapped him on the shoulder and seconded the notion. Sderot, he said, represents the “real front” of terrorism.

“I understand. I don’t understand in the emotional way that you do, but I understand,” the governor said.

Corzine visited the town in southern Israel several hours ahead of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, who is also in the country today as part of a broader overseas trip. Corzine is here on the fourth day of a five-day trade mission to Israel.

The Democratic governor has used some of his time with Israeli political, academic and economic leaders this week to talk up Obama’s potential.

Before the emotional trip to Sderot, where Corzine met with mayor Eli Moyal and viewed pictures of the most recent victims of rocket attacks, he toured a desalinization plant in Ashkelon.

Afterward, he spoke at a luncheon for Israeli companies with facilities in New Jersey and American companies operating in Israel, telling the assembled CEOs he sees “an enormous amount of potential” for further connections, particularly in biotechnology and alternative energy.

Green energy also takes center stage at a dinner meeting tonight.

Israel is New Jersey’s ninth-largest trading partner, and more than 700 New Jersey companies do business with the nation. There are more than 70 Israeli companies with operations in New Jersey.