Hamas opposed the Oslo accords and wanted to undermine the PLO-Israeli peace process.

Mossad did not create Hamas, they funded it during its earlier period when it would not have survived without external funds. The difference is slight, but worth noting.

This activity occurred in the mid-1970s when the Palestinian Liberation Organization was the primary group fighting for Palestinian Independence. They were causing violence and problems throughout the Levant (especially in Jordan and Lebanon) and were able to bring a number of different Palestinian Terrorist and Paramilitary Groups under one banner. However, Hamas refused to join the PLO since the PLO had a primarily Arab Nationalist and Secularist vision for Palestine whereas Hamas had an Islamist vision for Palestine. Wishing to encourage division in the Palestinian ranks and perhaps get the Palestinians to fight one another instead of causing problems for Israel or other Arab countries, Mossad sought to strengthen Hamas to counter-balance the PLO.

Hamas was not able to counter-balance the PLO at this early point. Instead we see Fatah, the successor to the PLO, in conflict with Hamas today, almost 30 years later than intended and ruining the Palestinians' chance for a viable state and further complicating peace with the Palestinians. Fatah is significantly more moderate today than the PLO was in the 1970s and 1980s. This is certainly a moment where hindsight is 20-20.

Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was not the leader of the PLO, but instead was a founder of Hamas, an Islamist Palestinian paramilitary organization and political party. Yassin also served as the spiritual leader of the organization.

Yasir Arafat is no more. He died on November 11, 2004. The PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) is a joint effort by several separate anti-Israel groups originally organized in 1964 to destroy Israel through the force of arms. Arafat was the head of his own group, Al Fatah, when it joined the PLO. Arafat later headed the PLO from 1969 until he died. In 1996, the PLO renounced its stated goal of dissolving Israel. After Arafat died, the PLO fell on hard times, and in 2006, Hamas won out over Al Fatah for control of the Palestinian Authority. The PLO has been struggling for traction among the Palestinian people for the past 3 years.

The Intifada was a combination of grassroots initiatives by ordinary Palestinians who became violent of their own accord and of top-down statements and encouragements from leaders of the PLO, Hamas, Hezbollah, and other Militant Organizations.