Senior officials around Yasser Arafat are scrambling to assure the United States that they oppose Osama bin Laden, and vehemently reject the Saudi dissident's statements -contained in his first videotaped statement since 11 September - linking his cause with that of the Palestinians.
"We have nothing to do with the man, and we absolutely do not condone anything that he has done," said Samir Rantissi, a senior adviser to the Palestinian Information Ministry, who passed on a message from Mr Arafat through US diplomatic channels to Washington expressing full support for the US military action, and disassociating the Palestinians from bin Laden.
He said the message expressed "full and outright" support for the Americans. In comments broadcast this morning (NZ time), bin Laden said that he "swore to God" that the United States will not live in peace until peace reigns in Palestine - coupling his movement explicitly with the Palestinian conflict with Israel, an issue that has to date been seen as comparatively low on his lists of grievances against the West.
These remarks will play into the hands of Israel's Ariel Sharon, who has sought to couple the Palestinians with bin Laden's atrocities, by arguing that attacks by guerrillas and suicide bombers on Israel are terrorism, and that all terrorism is the same. Mr Sharon has described Mr Arafat as "Israel's bin Laden".
Palestinian officials were struggling to counter this. "We are a legitimate liberation movement which is opposing an occupation," Mr Rantissi told The Independent, "We have nothing against the American people, or against the West. We deplore the actions carried out on 11 September. Bin Laden is trying to use us, and we cannot allow that to happen."
Dr Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestinian legislator, said: "The Palestinian cause can be very easily hijacked and used, because it is a clear expression of real injustice. That's why we must do something now to solve it."
Mr Arafat held back from public comment - mindful, no doubt, that anti-American sentiments run high on the streets of Gaza and the West Bank, which will now be stoked by today's American and British bombing raids. But sources close to the Palestinian leader said that he was deeply concerned about bin Laden's speech.
Chief among his worries will be the impact bin Laden's remarks will have on public opinion in the United States. Before 11 September, President Bush was reluctant to get closely involved in the conflict, but he became engaged afterwards, pressing both sides to end the violence so that it would not enflame Muslim opinion on the streets while the US was carrying out its attacks.
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