Another day in the West Bank ends amid tank shelling and the crackle of rifle fire.

Having seen the destruction and strife plaguing the Middle East firsthand, Michigan Congressman Mike Rogers has decided the United States needs to take a larger role in peace negotiations.

As a respected up-and-coming GOP lawmaker, Rogers, of Brighton, needs to use the influence he’s gaining to prod the Bush administration to take a more active role in the Middle East conflict. Since entering office, the administration has taken a knee-jerk reaction to pull away from the peace talks supported by President Clinton. But removing the United States from the process will not help matters.

Rogers believes, along with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, that the region’s conflict requires American intervention immediately.

Small-scale acts of violence pockmark the region on a day-to-day basis. On a dusty street children hurl rocks and insults at soldiers on patrol. Tanks and helicopter gunships make their way into a burgeoning residential area to disperse a potentially destructive gathering.

And the conflict only escalates.

Spending time in an Arab neighborhood among citizens and shopkeepers who revealed open desires for U.S. intervention, Rogers and his fellow members of Congress gained a new perspective on how serious the situation is.

Leaders from the Palestinian National Authority and Israel laid their cases before the representatives. There was concern that each side might try to gain some kind of political advantage over the other during these meetings, but such was not the case.

Naturally, each side tries to present its own case. There are certain interests that each faction wants and needs to preserve, carrying the weight of their national goals and identity. But each side is also aware that its primary concern should be to find a way to negotiate with each other.

A noble concern, indeed.

Rogers hopes the United States can help to achieve a cease-fire in the conflict, so that at the very least, leaders can begin to negotiate a truce.

“If we can do that, then we will have made an impact in the Middle East,” Rogers said.

Many students have a vested interest in the region, as either residents of the area or with family there and it’s good to see Rogers doing something that affects his constituents on a wide scale.

Having been in office only eight months, he should be applauded for taking the initiative to take on something of this magnitude. Seeing the region for himself is a tremendous first step. Now he can take this case to the White House and speak with authority on the matter.

With the reactions he received from various political leaders, Rogers and his fellow emissaries found there is still hope.

Rogers’ humanitarian efforts can’t stop here, though. Now would be a good time to see him push this matter into the forefront of discussion and work to bring about the cease-fire that the region so desperately needs.

Young soldiers, barely older than some of the freshmen here on campus, carry machine guns through a shopping center in Israel. They carry them to keep Palestinians from firing on local Israeli neighborhoods.

Palestinians the same age flood the streets, sometimes in violent protest, hoping to push the Israeli presence from their own neighborhoods.

If Rogers continues the work he has started, maybe these youths can finally put their weapons down for good.

Maybe then we’ll see a truly lasting peace.