Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said that his forces are able to ensure that armed groups do not take over empty Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip. In an interview with Newsweek magazine to be published on Monday, Abbas said the Palestinian Authority would ensure that Hamas did not take over the settlements, which the Israeli army left on Sunday after a 38-year presence in Gaza. "We are ready to control the whole security situation," Abbas told the magazine. "We will not allow anybody to rush into the settlements." He said the next step in the peace process with Israel was to return to the stalled internationally-backed road map peace plan. "There was an agreement that the Israelis would evacuate [some West Bank] cities... This was not implemented. We talked about prisoners, and they didn't release any. Of course, we want them to freeze [West Bank] settlement activities and [the building of] the wall."