Submitted by Dave Levy, May 4, 2007 00:39

According to some observers, about 150,000 people showed for the rally. That's less than 3% of Israels population of 7million, hardly a mandate for Olmert to resign.

In Lebanon, Hezbollah and other rallies customarily get close to 1m people, with a smaller total population.

Most of those that attended were on the left and right of Israeli politics, with their spokespersons.

I believe Olmert has been in the center all along, trying to avoid the calamity that his country experienced in Lebanon. He and Sharon before him, knew the difficulty of dislodging Hezbollah, while fighting on two other fronts, in Gaza and the West Bank.

This is the bottom line: Israel has been at war her entire existence, which intensifies every so many years.

There has never been a moment since it's creation in 48, that it has not experience some sort of violence or termoil, from guerrilla attacks under El Fatah, to Islamic Jihad, to the PLO. It's Arab neighbors, have tried to dislodge it over and over again.

Now, they see the Israeli government's restraint, whether in South Lebanon, or Gaza, and in it's reactive policies, as weakness.

That is the real danger in all of this, the Arab world will misjudge Israel's capabilities.

The cease fire which ended the conflict in Lebanon did no one any favors, even though Kofi if I recall said it should have been much sooner. Had Israel been victorious without any doubt, Hezbollah would no longer be on the border, harassing Israeli soldiers and citizens with their signs, flags, and taunts. The entire area south of the Litani River would be free of Syrian and Iranian supplied rockets. Hezbollah would not threatened the legitimate Lebanese government. More than likely, all of Lebanon would be far better off.

Now we have returned to the status quo., with Hezbollah being resupplied from Syria, under the watchful eye of forces which should have prevented it.

If anything, Nancy Pelosi and Condi Rice, should have insisted that Syria butt out of this mess and stop aggravating the area towards a much wider and dangerous war, for there to be any further dialogue.

Additinally, If Olmert remains as P.M. he should request immediately the weaponry needed to thwart any Syrian or Iranian attack, which they threaten.

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