According to Rantisi, he joined Sheikh Ahmad Yassin and Salah Shehadeh, among others, in instructing people to exit the mosques chanting Allahu Akbar ("God is great"). This was the start of the First Intifada, according to Rantisi, under whose leadership the organization that would subsequently come to be known as Hamas was formed later that year. "Intifada" is the Arabic word for "uprising", in this case, an uprising against the Israeli occupation. In Hamas' version of the start of the Intifada, the rival PLO later joined forces with them, and a united leadership was formed. Historians dispute the Hamas-led version of the launching of the uprising.
