RAMALLAH, June 18, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Palestinian leaders urged visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Saturday, June 18, to pressure Israel to open up the borders of the Gaza Strip after its planned withdrawal from the occupied territory this summer.

Premier Ahmed Qorei, Foreign Minister Nasser Al-Qidwa and Civil Affairs Minister Mohammed Dahlan warned Rice that the pullout would be a "failure" if the Israelis retained control of land and sea exits, a senior official present at the talks told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"We discussed the withdrawal from Gaza and the northern West Bank and we told Dr Rice that we need answers about a number of important issues -- the borders and the safe passage (between Gaza and West Bank) and the airport," he added.

"We told her that if there are no answers to these issues the withdrawal from Gaza and the northern West Bank will be a failure."

Under its disengagement plan, Israel is due to pull all its troops and settlers out of the Gaza Strip in an operation beginning in August.

It plans to retain control of the Rafah border crossing between southern Gaza and Egypt and refuses to allow the Palestinians to reopen a mothballed airport in southern Gaza.

Rice kicked off her first comprehensive Middle East tour Saturday, bearing stern messages to Israel and the Palestinians to work together on the upcoming withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

She will also visit Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia for talks on the Bush administration's drive for democratic reforms.

The trip was Rice's first big swing through the Middle East since becoming secretary of state in January. She made a brief stop in Israel and the West Bank in February and a lightning trip to Iraq in May.

Rice, for her part, expressed satisfaction after the talks.

"It was an excellent meeting," she said in brief comments to reporters after the meeting.

The top US diplomat was due to meet President Mahmoud Abbas later Saturday before heading back to Israel for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Sunday, June 19.

In statements before her Mideast tour, Rice praised the Palestinians for making a start in streamlining and professionalizing their security services.

"I think they are making progress on that."

"I'm certainly going to talk with President Abbas about the need for the Palestinians to play a critical role in providing a secure environment in which the Gaza disengagement can take place," she said.

"Obviously that means that the calm he has discussed with the various Palestinian factions is going to have to hold."

Rice was traveling to the region at the behest of President George W. Bush to help nail down details of Israel's withdrawal plan.

Rice said her main concern was coordination of what started out as a unilateral Israeli move.

She said "six or seven" issues had to be made clear, including security, the handover to Palestinian institutions, distribution of assets and freedom of movement.

"There needs to be clarity between the two sides about what to expect," she told reporters aboard her plane.

"That I think will lead to less confusion in what is likely to be under the best of circumstances a pretty complicated set of days."

Rice also had tough words for Israeli plans to expand Jewish settlements east of Al-Quds (occupied East Jerusalem).

"We don't intend that the Israelis try to create facts on the ground," she said.

"They simply cannot engage in activities that are supposed to somehow prejudge a final status outcome."

Defying international resolutions, Israel revealed on May 16, plans to build a section of its separation wall to link the largest Maale Adumim settlement in the occupied West Bank to Al-Quds.

Abbas, who met with Bush last month, has been pressing for reassurances that Gaza would not be the end for Israel.

Rice said "we've been clear with the Israelis that it cannot be Gaza only, that there has to be a day after the successful withdrawal from the Gaza."

She said a successful Gaza handover would "lead to greater confidence between the parties, greater trust between the parties and, I believe, an ability to accelerate progress on the roadmap."