Press sees Olmert surviving rally

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Tens of thousands of Israelis rallied on Thursday in Tel Aviv, calling on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to resign over last summer's war in Lebanon, but Friday's papers are clear he will survive for the moment.

Despite the turnout in Rabin Square, one commentator stresses that Mr Olmert's advisers were relieved as they had been expecting more.

Another daily accuses the protestors of being naive in not realising fully the consequences of an Olmert resignation.

BEN KASPIT IN MAARIV

Ehud Olmert watched the demonstration on TV, worried, but at around nine o'clock in the evening his various advisers breathed a sigh of relief. Police reported fewer than 100,000 demonstrators and Olmert's men rejoiced... The prime minister takes to heart every citizen who demonstrates against him. He is not happy. On the other hand, he is also not finished.

EHUD ASHERI IN HAARETZ

Like frustrated football fans demanding the sacking of the coach in the false belief that only a new coach can win the championship for them: This was the broadest and genuine common denominator of the children of all tribes who gathered in Rabin Square last night... Everyone spoke of 'responsibility' but they were really yearning for a victorious leader to restore their lost pride.

NAHUM BARNEA IN YEDIOT AHARONOT

It is strange to say about an Israeli public, mainly a veteran Israeli public, that it is naive. Yet, for good and for bad, the people who came to the demonstration yesterday were naive... They wish for a more successful, clean, effective government... But had the demonstrators known that instead of Olmert they will get Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu it is doubtful they would have come.

ARI SHAVIT IN HAARETZ

For Ehud Olmert the significance of the demonstration last night is obvious: Now he is not an elected prime minister, he is an appointed prime minister. If Olmert wants to renew his legitimacy, he should bring his own supporters to the square.

SIMA KADMON IN YEDIOT AHARONOT

Olmert is an intelligent man, with quick perception. He knows there were failures [in the second Lebanon war]. But he does not think that his resignation will solve anything. Now he is fighting for his name. For how he will be remembered.

ANSHEL PFEFFER IN JERUSALEM POST

The prime minister is currently in a total-defensive mode, and just as he brushed off the nascent rebellion within his party, he won't be budged by one demonstration, no matter how large. The question now is whether the public anger can be kept hot for what will probably be a months-long campaign. How many of the thousands in Rabin Square will turn up again and again?

<A href="http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk">BBC Monitoring</A> selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.