JERUSALEM – Israel and the Palestinian Authority have agreed that Jewish settler homes in the Gaza Strip will be demolished as Israeli citizens and soldiers leave the area this summer, Secretary of State Rice announced yesterday after two days of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials.

The accord settles a long-festering issue and is the first significant agreement between the two parties in the complex and potentially violent undertaking, which began as a unilateral step by Israel to separate itself from the Palestinian Arabs. In recent months, both sides have complained that the other has failed to coordinate. But Ms. Rice emerged from the intensive discussions saying both sides had agreed to a set of principles, including a pledge to coordinate plans and “ensure that disengagement proceeds smoothly, without violence.”

The president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, and Prime Minister Sharon plan to meet tomorrow in Jerusalem to further discuss the Israeli departure from Gaza and other vexing issues. Ms. Rice had come to the region saying she was not planning to negotiate for the parties, but the decision to have the secretary of state announce the principles underscored the increasingly central role played by America in the Gaza withdrawal.

Ms. Rice said the Israelis and Palestinian Arabs had agreed to coordinate on security to ensure peace and “create the conditions for economic viability and hope,” that Palestinian Arab goods and people should flow “in and out of Gaza at a level that will allow for economic revival,” and that the settler homes in Gaza should be removed.

“The course ahead is going to require even more coordination,” Ms. Rice said. “There need to be no surprises between the two sides in terms of what’s going to happen in the Gaza.”

Under the housing plan, once the disengagement begins in mid-August, the Israeli military will begin to destroy the 1,200 homes over a three-to-four week period as settlers leave – or are forced from their homes. The cleanup and removal of debris will be handled by the Palestinian Arabs, creating a job program and an incentive for Palestinian Arabs to carefully plan how the areas are used in the future. The estimated cost of the cleanup will be between $50 million and $60 million, an American official said, and a senior Israeli official said Israel would seek the help of international donors to defray the cost.

The tussle over the homes illustrates the mix of political, economic, and perception issues that has thwarted deeper cooperation between the two sides on Israel’s plans to leave 21 settlements in Gaza and four small settlements in the northern West Bank. The settlements and military-controlled areas make up 20% of the Gaza Strip, including much of its fertile land and all of the southern seashore.

In order to win a parliamentary vote on the Gaza withdrawal last year, Mr. Sharon had pledged to dismantle the homes. Palestinian Arab officials were not eager to keep the red-roofed middle-class homes while 1.3 million people are struggling for housing in the narrow coastal strip. But some Palestinian officials have been hesitant to coordinate too closely on the issue, believing it would undermine claims that Israel was driven from Gaza.

Under international law, Israel was required to return the property as it had been when it seized it during the 1967 war, which would have meant a costly and time-consuming cleanup and left Israeli soldiers vulnerable to attack for months. Indiscriminate destruction of the homes could have ruined water and sewer lines necessary for future development.

A series of other issues must still be settled, including the transfer of greenhouses and other facilities to the Palestinian Arabs. Israel is vehemently opposed to the rebuilding of Gaza’s airport and continues to reject giving lethal weapons to overhauled Palestinian security forces, two senior American officials said in a briefing for reporters traveling with Ms. Rice. But officials said that in contrast to the lack of communication between the two sides as recently as three months ago, they believed Israelis and Palestinian Arabs were on the cusp of beginning regular, senior-level discussions.

A U.S. army general, William E. Ward, has been working with the Palestinian Arabs on overhauling security forces, while the former World Bank president, James Wolfensohn, has been charged with overseeing economic issues.

Violence erupted in Gaza both Saturday, when Ms. Rice met with Mr. Abbas, and yesterday, when she met with Mr. Sharon. Israeli officials said an Israeli soldier was killed and two others were wounded yesterday morning when Palestinian Arab gunmen fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli military post along Gaza’s heavily fortified border with Egypt. In apparent coordination, the attack came moments before Palestinian Arab fighters fired rocket-propelled grenades and light arms at Israeli soldiers and civilians engaged in construction work nearby, Israel military officials said.

The area has been a major arms smuggling route for armed Palestinian Arab groups bringing weapons into Gaza. The radical groups Islamic Jihad and Abu Rish Brigades, an armed offshoot of the Fatah political movement, claimed joint responsibility for yesterday’s morning attack. One Palestinian Arab gunman was killed in the ensuing gun battle.