orrect," Tayseer Khaled, a senior official of the DFLP politburo in the Palestinian territories, told Reuters. "The DFLP is against hijacking planes and against endangering the lives of civilians who are not connected with the struggle of this region," he said. President Bush called the crashes an "apparent terrorist attack," and pledged the U.S. government would "hunt down" those responsible. Atwan said anti-American sentiment in the Middle East was at its peak and moderate Arab governments had been "embarrassed" by what they saw as Bush's reluctance to lead peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. "The more moderate Arab governments were pleading with the American administration to intervene and to resume its sponsorship to the peace talks and put an end to the Israeli aggression. The Bush administration let them down," Atwan said. He said the United States, if convinced that bin Laden was behind the attacks, would probably retaliate in Afghanistan where bin Laden is thought to be in hiding. "I will not surprised that the Americans will send their cruise missiles to Afghanistan. There is no other country because bin Laden is in Afghanistan." ...
