Bash Scripting Problem

[Thomas Kappelmueller]

Hello!

I hope this place is ok to ask this question.
I am using Fedora 8.

Example:
#!/bin/bash

COMMAND='ls "test dir 1"'

$COMMAND #have tried $($COMMAND), '$COMMAND'

It always cuts it in half at the spaces.

Error msg:
ls: cannot access "test: No such file or directory
ls: cannot access dir: No such file or directory
ls: cannot access 1": No such file or directory

What am i not seeing?

thanks in advance

-T