Rantisi’s Putsch DEBKAfile’s Islamic sources reported the shock experienced by the main body of Hamas when they discovered overnight that their movement had always been a mere offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. This emerged from the Yassin obituary published in Cairo by the Brotherhood’s head, Muhammed Aqf, in which he honored the late leader as “Supreme Teacher of the Muslim Brotherhood-Palestine.” Hamas members had always believed they were fighting in the name of Palestinian nationhood - not Islamic fundamentalism. Because of its position in the world movement, Yassin was careful never to allow the Hamas to carry out overseas operations, which he accepted were the province of other parts of the Brotherhood, such as the Egyptian Jihad Islami which has amalgamated with al Qaeda.
One key decision facing the new Hamas leader is whether to start launching operations overseas or stick to Yasin’s restrictiveness. A pointer that the new men plan to spread their wings came from the stream of hate-filled invective against the United States issuing in the last 24 hours from the movement’s post-Yassin spokesmen.
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