Palestinian gunman killed as Peres plans talks

A Palestinian gunman shot by Israeli troops bled to death before reaching a hospital, his militant group said, as more talks between both sides were planned for later today.

Meanwhile, Israeli police raided the offices of a Palestinian university’s president.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres was expected to hold more talks with Palestinian Cabinet ministers today after an ice-breaking session yesterday.

The two sides were expected to continue discussing ways to ease the economic plight of the Palestinians caused by the Israeli blockade of the West Bank.

A Palestinian official said Peres would meet Palestinian Interior Minister Abdel Razak Yihiyeh later today.

In the West Bank, Moamar Daraghmeh, 30, was shot in the leg as left the village of Yamoun, the Islamic Jihad group said. They said he was on an armed mission to strike targets inside Israel.

Islamic Jihad has killed scores of people in suicide bombings in Israel.

In Jerusalem, meanwhile, Israeli police closed the office of the president of the Palestinian Al-Quds University.

Top university officials are suspected of operating on behalf of the Palestinian Authority but a police spokesman offered no other details.

The president’s office manager said police took workers ID cards and confiscated boxes of documents. ‘‘It is an unjustified action,’’ he said.

Sari Nusseibeh, the university president who in Greece during the raid, is also the Palestinian Liberation Organisation’s commissioner for Jerusalem.

He has been the senior Palestinian representative in the city since the death of Feisal Husseini. Last year, police closed Husseini’s office at Orient House in east Jerusalem because Israel saw it as an unofficial Palestinian government office.

Israel says the Palestinian Authority has no role in Jerusalem, but the . Palestinians want to establish their capital in the east of the city.

In the Gaza Strip, meanwhile, two Palestinian men were wounded today during an exchange of fire between gunmen and Israeli troops.

The gun battle took place when the troops demolished four Palestinian houses and partially demolished two in Rafah, near the Egyptian border, Palestinian security officials said. The officials

said the two wounded men were not involved in the shooting.