Abbas says left in dark on Israel's plans for disengagement

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said Friday on the eve of talks with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that the Palestinians were ready to coordinate the Gaza pullout with Israel but were being left in the dark on crucial issues.

Abbas planned to assure Rice, on a troubleshooting mission to help keep the mid-August Gaza withdrawal on track after a flare-up of violence, that the PA would do its part but needed the Israelis to do theirs.

Israel insists, however, that the Palestinians are to blame for the failure to finalize a deal on cooperation, saying Abbas has not done enough to rein in militant groups behind recent attacks that have strained a five-month-old ceasefire.

"I will tell her, 'Dr. Rice, we need answers from the Israelis. Is Gaza going to be turned into a large prison? The Israelis are not cooperating'," Abbas told Reuters in an interview in the West Bank city of Ramallah where he meets Rice on Saturday.

"We need information how the disengagement will take place, when, where will it begin, what is the fate of the border crossings, what is the fate of the Palestinian airport," he said. "We're not getting any answers."

Rice began her mission urging both sides to get back to coordinating Israel's evacuation of all 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four of 120 in the West Bank, territories the Palestinians want for a state.

Washington hopes Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan, which he has billed as "disengagement" from conflict with the Palestinians, will spur renewed peace moves.

The hastily arranged trip followed a surge of Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed and mass protests by Israelis opposed to the withdrawal, which have aggravated tensions and complicated the process.

Israel insists that Abbas's security forces keep militants under wraps for the evacuation of Gaza's 8,500 settlers, who live isolated from 1.4 million Palestinians in the strip.

Palestinians welcome any pullout but fear Sharon is trading Gaza for a tighter grip on larger West Bank settlements, which house the vast majority of Israel's 240,000 settlers.

Rice began her visit praising Abbas's recent pledge to curb militants but is expected to urge him to do more. Sharon asked her on Friday to push Abbas to crack down on armed groups.

Abbas said he would brief Rice on clashes in Gaza between his security forces and Hamas gunmen that erupted last week after police tried to stop militants firing rockets into Israel.

Hamas, sworn to Israel's destruction, poses a growing military and political challenge to Abbas. "I will tell her that I intend to impose the rule of law," he said.

But Abbas defended his policy of largely seeking to contain rather than confront the militants. "We know what the Americans are saying and what they want, but our policy is based on our interests. We are not acting out of weakness," he said.

	P.A. Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (center) attending Friday prayers in the West Bank city of Ramallah, on July 22.