The United States and the Quartet do not agree to ban Hamas from the elections. Here Israel encounters weighty issues that go far beyond the Palestinian situation. In the name of participatory democracy, President George W. Bush's Arab reform policies are actively enfranchising radical Islamist parties with armed militias: in Iraq, where they form the government; in Lebanon, where Hizballah now holds government ministries; and now, potentially, in Palestine. - Yossi Alpher