Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the paraplegic spiritual leader of the militant Hamas Islamic group, was due to return to Gaza last night after a four-month tour of Arab capitals during which he is said to have raised $50 million for his movement, David Horovitz reports from Jerusalem.
In a bid to co-opt Hamas, the Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, recently offered the group ministerial positions in the Palestinian Authority, but was rejected.
Mr Arafat indicated yesterday that, in the next two weeks, he would appoint a new cabinet, confirming for the first time that he has accepted the resignations of his current ministers. They resigned en masse amid corruption allegations last summer, but have continued to serve.
After completing medical treatment in Cairo, the sheikh travelled overland to the Egypt-Gaza border yesterday afternoon, but was delayed for several hours at the Israeli-controlled Rafah crossing point.
Israel had not publicly confirmed that it would allow Sheikh Yassin - who continues to endorse suicide bombings by Hamas members on civilian Israeli targets - to return to Gaza. But officials had indicated privately that they regarded it as more dangerous to force him into exile than to let him come back to his Gaza home.
Fresh graffiti sprayed in the sheikh's home neighbourhood hailed the return of "the father", and "the leader", who would "steer the nation to victory from his wheelchair."
Mr Arafat's Palestinian Authority has been dismayed by the VIP reception afforded the sheikh in many Arab capitals.