In the coming weeks, President Bush is going to be tested on his principles in respect of the Palestinian Arabs. Fewer than two weeks ago, on May 26, a longtime aide to Yasser Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas, stood in the White House Rose Garden with Mr. Bush and announced, “We are more determined to move forward in the path of freedom, reform, and democracy.” He said, “We have chosen democracy as a way of life.” Mr. Bush replied, speaking of Mr. Abbas, “I know the president is committed to democracy.”

Yet on June 3, Mr. Abbas, who is also known as Abu Mazen, indefinitely postponed the elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council that had been scheduled for July 17. Press reports from the Middle East said Mr. Abbas wanted more time to modify the election process to assure an outcome favorable to his own political party.

This is about what one would expect from the circle around Arafat, whose commitment to democracy was always nonexistent. But where does that leave Mr. Bush and his foreign policy advisers, who fell into the trap of wishful thinking that ensnared the Clinton administration? Now that they’ve been humiliated and embarrassed by Mr. Abbas once, perhaps they will be more careful the next time they think about inviting him to the White House or offering presidential affirmations of his commitment to democracy.

And, speaking of democracy, where are the Democrats? Had Mr. Bush declared in September or October of 2004 that he was postponing the congressional elections so as to rewrite the election laws so that they were more favorable to Republicans, we imagine there would have been a bit of a fuss. Yet when it comes to the rights of Palestinian voters, somehow the Democratic Party has not a peep of protest when the Arafat crony who Mr. Bush says is “committed to democracy” postpones an election.

We’re aware that the party Mr. Abbas is seeking to outpoll, Hamas, is a terrorist organization committed to Israel’s destruction. But Mr. Abbas’s Fatah crowd, two masked activists of whom are pictured above, are not materially different. The Palestinian Arab authority announced over the weekend that these masked terrorists, who on Friday seized a diplomat, would get what they had asked for – jobs in Mr. Abbas’s “security” force. At least with Hamas, there’s less risk of American leaders misunderstanding the group’s intentions, as Mr. Bush seems to have done in the Rose Garden with that longtime aide to Arafat.