The leaders of Hamas never imagined that they would be pushed up against the wall like this. With Egypt holding a gun to their heads, they know that if they want to keep the movement alive, they must accept Egypt's ultimatum and sever ties with the Muslim Brotherhood. It could be the toughest decision that Hamas has been forced to make since it was first founded in December 1987.

It is well-known that the founder of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, was inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood while he was a student at Ain Shams University in Egypt. He adopted and adapted that group’s teachings to meet his own ideology and turned Hamas into a mass movement of the poor and disenfranchised members of Palestinian society.

Was it all in vain? Was it all a mistake? What happened to the movement’s self-respect? What happened to the sense of national Palestinian pride and to the movement's own sense of solidarity that it preached for three decades?

In March, a senior Hamas delegation traveled to Egypt. Led by Mahmoud al-Zahar, the group also included Mousa Abu Marzouk, Imad al-Alami and Khalil al-Hayya. The background for the visit was the assassination of Egyptian Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat, a crime attributed to Hamas. Among other things, Egypt demanded that Hamas sever all ties with the Muslim Brotherhood. The Hamas delegation seems likely to accept Egypt’s demands, because they have already shown that they want Hamas to survive as a movement. Throughout its existence, Hamas has been forced to compromise, round its sharp corners and blur its ideological boundaries when they become serious obstacles.