Palestinian President 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 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.

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.

Six residents were injured and five other arrested in Bel’in

Israeli soldiers fired on Friday afternoon, at a peaceful procession against the Apartheid Wall close to Ramallah.

Six residents were injured and five other arrested while the incident.

A local source said that soldiers fired gas bombs, concussion grenades and rubber-coated bullets at hundred of residents, Israeli and international peace activists who were protesting against the wall.

Samir Burnat, member of the Popular Committee Against the Wall in Bel’in, said that soldiers used their clubs against the protestors and detained thirty locals, Israeli and international activists; at least 500 protestors participated in the protest.

Soldiers chased the protestors until the center of Bel’in while firing at them, six residents were injured, one seriously, and five internationals, including a cameraman working with the French Press Agency.

An Israeli source reported that Sheikh Yousef Hamdan, one of Hamas leaders in the West Bank, participated for the first time in the protest.

Shai Carmeli Pollak, an Israeli documentary director, who documents the protests against the Wall in Bel’in, said that that he was attacked and detained by an Israeli military officer when he was filming soldiers attacking several residents after detaining them.

Pollack added that he kept filming the soldiers while attacking him and dozens of protestors; the army refused to comment on the incident.

It is worth mentioning that a video captured by Pollack several weeks ago, was the proof which cleared charges against resident Abdullah abu Rahma several weeks ago.

Soldiers claimed that abu Rahma hurled stones at them, but the video captured by Pollack proved that the soldiers lied in their testimonies.

Last week, soldiers arrested Abdullah abu Rahma, the coordinator of the Popular Committee in Bel’in.

In other development, Israeli soldiers shot killed, a Palestinian youth, on Friday at night, in the southern West Bank city of Hebron.

An Israeli army source said on Friday, that a Palestinian gunman fired at the army in the area mildly injuring one soldier, “soldiers fired back killing a passerby who is unrelated to the attack”, army source added.

A medical source in Hebron reported that resident Ihsan abu Hamdiyya, 18 years old, was seriously injured in the shootout between the Palestinian gunman and Israeli soldiers in the area.

The army said that abu Hamdiyya is not related to the shooting incident, and that he was just a “passerby”, who was in the area at the time of the shooting which occurred near Romano settlement.

Hamdiyya was seriously injured and succumbed to his wounds at a Hebron hospital. The injured soldier was transferred to a hospital in Jerusalem; another soldier was hit by bullets but his protective vest absorbed the impact.

According to an initial probe conducted by the army, a Palestinian gunman approached an army post and opened fire at soldiers manning it before escaping towards the old city of Hebron.

The army initiated a wide-scaled search in the area in an attempt to arrest the Palestinian gunman.

PHOTO CAPTION

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, gestures prior to his meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in the Palestinian Authority headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Saturday, July 23, 2005. (AP)