Antipathy for Israel is endemic in the entire Arab/Muslim world. Rare is the voice that speaks the slightest amiable word about the existence of the Jewish state. Despite the spurious "peace process", peaceful attitudes towards Israel are not in evidence in the "Arab street". The following statement, compiled from various Muslim sources, is representative of the prevalent regional attitudes towards Israel:

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The land of Palestine is an Arab, Islamic land that has been usurped by force at the hands of Zionist Jews and it can only be restored by force. In Islam, if your enemy occupies a small piece of your land, then you have to declare jihad against the enemy. Palestine is occupied by the enemy. The occupation of Palestine is an Islamic obligation, because occupation of any Islamic land is a violation to the sovereignty of the Islamic world. Jihad in Palestine is a legitimate right for the Palestinian people. It is a compulsory duty on all Muslims, males and females. It is a grave injustice to describe such a right as terrorism on the part of enemies of Allah.

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Listen to the voices from around the region and you will hear widespread agreement with such statements. The question of whether this is a "legitimate" interpretation of Islam is a moot one. The issue is not theological (their "theology" is preposterous anyway) but pragmatic. Does it matter if this viewpoint represents "legitimate" Islam when the masses in the Middle East are prepared to kill and die for it?

Contrary to wishful thinking of pro-democracy advocates, radical Islam is not some fringe movement in places like Cairo, Amman, Beirut, Damascus, and Ramallah. The Islamist sentiments against Israel have become embedded into society. A very dangerous misconception exists in the West that the terrorism mentality is not the norm in the Middle East. Of course, not everyone is ready to strap a bomb to his or her chest, but do not the majorities cheer those who do?

Among Israel's neighbors, jihadist Islam is indeed a pervasive ideology, one made even more pernicious because it is supposedly sanctioned by a "god". Hatred of Israel is the rancid mother's milk in the Arab world, a befouled anti-Zionist potion that nearly everyone drinks . Democracy cannot become a magic powder sprinkled in to purify that foulness.

Last week's events in Lebanon are evidence of that. For a short time, many of the pro-democracy pundits were giddily celebrating the "people power" in Lebanon. The daily anti-Syria rallies were pointed to as evidence the new Bush policies are practicable.

But when the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah organized a counter-rally that drew half a million people, dwarfing the others, it demonstrated the grim reality of what democracy Middle East style could look like.

The aim of democracy is to represent the will of the people. But what if the will of the people is not benevolent, but malevolent? What if the radical Islamists, like Hezbollah, are the ones chosen to lead the people? What if the US throws a democracy party, but it becomes a "Party of Allah?" What if black-hooded jihadists best represent the aspirations of the masses?

In the Middle East, the consensus of the populace of all of the nations is remarkably united in one issue: their extreme enmity for Israel. If genuine regime changes were to take place that would empower the people to carry out their common will, it might not lead to peace in the region at all. It could lead to just the opposite. Radical Islamists, even worse than the current governments, could conceivably gain power in places like Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia.

The primary problem in the Middle East is not a handful of corrupt leaders who suppress the good intentions of their citizens. No, it is those very intentions of their citizens which are not good at all regarding Israel. In fact, in some countries, the governing officials are widely despised because they are consider too conciliatory to Israel!

Even in Iraq, which is supposed to be the laboratory for the New Middle East democracy experiment, there is little evidence of changed attitudes towards Israel. Mithal al-Alusi, a prominent Iraqi official who favors establishing diplomatic ties with Israel, was expelled from the Iraqi National Congress after he visited Israel. A specially convened court even charged him with a criminal offense for that visit! The Iraqi newspaper al-Sabah said in response, "Al-Alusi committed a crime by visiting the enemy, the Zionist state." On February 7, his two sons Ayman and Jamal were gunned down during an attempt to kill him. Other attempts have been made on his life, and he now says that members of the new Iraqi government are connected to those attempts. That government, you may recall, has been democratically elected.

It is naive to think that just giving people the right to vote and determine their own political future will metamorphose deeply-ingrained hatred of Zionism. Hamas and Hezbollah are Islamic terror groups that have as their official stated policies the destruction of Israel. Yet Hamas in the West Bank, and Hezbollah in Lebanon both enjoy widespread support of the people. Both are well-integrated into their societies, and both have representatives chosen during election processes. A "democratic Palestine", President Bush's vision, could conceivably become a Hamas state.

The effort to remake the Middle East according to a democratic model may have noble intentions. But it will not bring peace to a region obsessed with inveterate contempt for Israel. The very existence of the Jewish state is still considered "nakba" (disaster) for the Arab world. Their fanatical religion of conquest insists "the end of the Zionist entity is a Quranic necessity; there is no place for the Jews no matter how long it takes." Democracy cannot cure that permeating malady.