Jerusalem ? Israel will coordinate its unilateral steps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with the United States, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Thursday after briefing senior American envoys on his “disengagement plan.”

Sharon addressed Washington’s concerns by saying he did not believe Israel would undermine the U.S.-backed “road map” peace plan by redeploying troops and imposing a boundary on Palestinians in the West Bank.

Sharon has said he would remove as many as 17 of 21 settlements in Gaza and several more in the West Bank if there is no progress in coming months on implementing the peace plan, which envisions a Palestinian state by 2005, with the terms agreed upon in negotiations.

Sharon, speaking to visiting American Jewish leaders, accused the Palestinians of doing nothing to move forward, and said they could have won much more land through negotiations than through unilateral measures.

However, Sharon said, “The steps that will be taken (by Israel) will not prevent the possibility of … an agreed settlement if and when there is a reliable partner on the Palestinian side.”

Palestinian officials have said they would welcome any dismantling of settlements, but suspect Israel is avoiding negotiations to try to keep large parts of the West Bank. The Americans and Palestinians oppose unilateral Israeli moves in principle but support evacuation of Israeli settlements.

In violence late Thursday, Israeli soldiers opened fire on four armed Palestinians approaching a border fence near a crossing point between Gaza and Israel, hitting two, the military said. Israel Radio said the two Palestinians were killed.

Sharon met for three hours Thursday with U.S. envoys and said “the steps Israel will take in a disengagement plan will be fully coordinated with the United States.” He referred to an upcoming trip to Washington though the White House has not mentioned a date for a Sharon visit.

The envoys who met with Sharon on Thursday were Assistant Secretary of State William Burns; Stephen Hadley, deputy director of the National Security Council; and Elliot Abrams, a Mideast specialist at the council. It is the highest-level U.S. delegation since Secretary of State Colin Powell’s June visit.

A Jewish settler prays next to the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site in Jerusalem's Old City. Settlers from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank gathered Thursday in Jerusalem for a mass prayer as part of their protest against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to evacuate Gaza Strip settlements.

U.S. Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer said serious talks with a credible Palestinian partner were preferable, but “the United States agrees with Israel that until now the Palestinians have not met that test.”

Disagreements emerged in Israel’s top security echelon over how to handle a pullout.

Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz was quoted Thursday as saying he expected the Gaza pullout to begin late this year or early next year and that not only the settlers but also the military would leave.

The military would retain control of Gaza’s airspace and coastal waters and would continue patrolling the Gaza-Egypt border, he said.

However, the army chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, spoke out against a unilateral withdrawal, and the Maariv newspaper said that view was shared by other general staff members.