CAIRO, September 11 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Arabs and Muslims worldwide appeared angrier than ever at unfair U.S. policy toward them, but many voiced sorrow on Wednesday, September 11, for the thousands of Americans who died in last year's attacks.

"I hate America, its policy, and even Americans themselves," said Mahmud Mohamed, 38, a Cairo street sweeper.

However, others here tempered their fury at U.S. policy with sympathy for the American dead, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

"Of course, I cannot be happy with what happened in the United States. It wouldn't be human to enjoy seeing thousands of innocent people die," said Selim Awad, a 48-year-old employer at a private company.

But most Egyptians expressed what analysts described as growing Arab and Muslim "anti-Americanism" because of U.S. policy toward Israel and Iraq.

In Syria, the official Tishrin newspaper said the Arabs have paid the "highest price" for September 11, while Israel has exploited the attacks on its U.S. ally by equating Palestinian resistance with terrorism.

"Although millions of Arabs expressed sympathies to the American people who are known for their good heart and ingenuity, Israel has managed to exploit this tragedy in favor of its expansionist plans and aggression," the paper said.

And while Qatar's Al-Jazeera Television and other Arab media are now reporting that Osama bin Laden orchestrated the attacks, many Arabs and Muslims still doubt it and speak of a U.S.-Israeli plot, according to AFP.

Shortly after the attacks last year, few Arabs believed the so-called Islamic militants were behind them.

In Thailand, the Bangkok Post newspaper said Wednesday that Muslim leaders in that country do not believe Bin Laden was responsible for September 11, and instead think Washington wanted to use the attacks to divide the world.

In Kuwait, where Americans were hailed as liberators in February 1991, Bin Laden is now widely regarded as a hero, according to a new poll, which did not ask whether people believed whether he orchestrated the attacks.

Fuelling Arab and Muslim anger, stirred already by U.S. support for Israel and its and the U.S. war on Afghanistan, are fears that Washington is preparing to launch its fiercest attack on Iraq since the 1991 Gulf war, which devastated the Iraqi infrastructure.

Though Arab armies took part in the U.S.-led force to liberate Kuwait, not one Arab country now supports the attack on Iraq and they have, for more than a decade now, complained of the high price the Iraqi civilian population have paid for U.N. sanctions.

In Pakistan, Islamic leaders said that strikes on Muslim countries, including Afghanistan, were aimed at capturing their natural resources.

"An attack on Iraq will be seen as an attack on the entire Islamic world," warned Fazlur Rehman, a leader of the Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI) party. "It will fuel Muslim hatred against the United States."

The growing tempo of the U.S. war on terrorism stirs not only anger but bafflement.

Arabs and Muslims accuse the United States of backing Israel's military occupation of Palestinian land, while always singling out Arab and Muslim countries for military attacks.

In addition to Afghanistan and Iraq, Libya and Sudan have also been attacked by U.S. forces in the last two decades.

The United States had "increased the gap of misunderstanding" between Muslims and Western communities, according to the Malay-language Utusan Malaysia.

In Washington, the U.S. State Department has been conducting a long-term study into the roots of anti-Americanism, in parallel with a major campaign to improve the U.S. image abroad, particularly in Islamic countries, that was launched in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

In addition, the State Department has produced materials to counter the perception that the U.S.-led war on terrorism is aimed at Islam and to stress the religious freedom and quality of life that Muslims enjoy in the United States.