I often encounter the claim that in its early years, Hamas received some support from Israel (Mossad, Shin Bet, or some other part of the Israeli state), supposedly to prop up a competitor to Fatah and split the Palestinian movement further. I also heard the theory that Israel (or rather one of its secret services) wanted the most extreme Palestinians in one organization to better surveil them. The last time I encountered the claim was in Gilbert Achcar's well received The Arabs and the Holoc...
