DETROIT -- The conflict in the Middle East has also created concern here in two Metro Detroit communities.

Hannan Lis returned home from Israel last night after leading a tour of 400 Michiganders. He said the fighting forced travelers to steer clear of South Israel.

Lis' niece goes to school in Beersheba. She said rockets fired by Hamas forces forced her to leave the area.

"She was in her apartment studying when a rocket fell not very far from her," Lis said.

Ibrahim Sammour of Detroit is a Palestinian. He grew up in Gaza and will soon become an American citizen. He regularly checks on his mother, brothers and sisters who were left behind.

"I'm extremely concerned, not just about them but about everybody there," Sammour said. "It's a very difficult situation. No electricity, no food, no medicine."

On Monday, a group of about 15 Michigan Islamic leaders called on the public to contact lawmakers, donate to relief agencies and pray in an effort to end fighting and suffering in the Gaza Strip and Israel.

The Council of Islamic Organizations of Michigan wants the Bush administration to push for a cease-fire between the Israeli military and Gaza's Islamic Hamas rulers.

In Washington, the State Department said the U.S. was pressing for a cease-fire that would include three main elements, including a halt to rocket attacks by Hamas.

President George W. Bush, however, emphasized "Israel's desire to protect itself."

Robert Cohen, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Metropolitan Detroit, said Israel makes every effort to minimize casualties, but it happens "when Hamas operates behind Palestinian civilians."

Added Lis, an Israeli-American, "Their choices are plenty, but they chose to really use civilians as shields." Lis, who has lived in the Detroit area for twenty years, still has a home in Haifa. He said that area was hit by Hezbollah rockets fired from Lebanon.

"Imagine if Windsor was taken over by a terrorist group that started lobbing missiles into Detroit and Dearborn and into Farmington Hills," Lis said. "How would we feel?"

Sammour said Hamas should stop firing rockets into Israel, but believes Israel's response is overkill.

"They are saying there were four people killed from Israel, and 500 some from the Palestinian side. This is too much," Sammour said.

Both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli rallies have been held in Michigan and elsewhere.