sentences:  Al-Abssi then issued a declaration stating he was returning religion to the Palestinian cause.In March 2007, Seymour Hersh, investigative reporter for the magazine "The New Yorker", suggested that the Lebanese government was giving support to Fatah al-Islam, in order to defeat Hezbollah.Hersh stated that David Welch, Assistant to Secretary of State, negotiated with Saudi Arabia and Saad Hariri of the American-backed government of Fouad Siniora to funnel aid to Fatah al-Islam, so that it could eventually attack Shia Hezbollah.