Peres Continues Talks in the Mideast

Israeli and Palestinian leaders held a second day of high-level talks Tuesday, even as Israel shut down the office of a leading Palestinian moderate and a gunman attacked Israeli police in Jerusalem.

Early in the day, Israeli police raided Al Quds University in Abu Dis, a suburb of East Jerusalem, and closed the office of the president, Sari Nusseibeh, the top Palestinian official in Jerusalem and an outspoken moderate who has criticized suicide bombings.

Nusseibeh was in Greece when the raid took place. Israeli Public Security Minister Uzi Landau said the university is part of the “long arm of the Palestinian Authority, operating against the law.”

Despite the raid, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres talked with new ministers in the Cabinet of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.

Peres met with Interior Minister Abdel Razak Yehiyeh and Local Affairs Minister Saeb Erekat, who has served as a senior negotiator in past talks with Israel. On Monday, Peres met with Finance Minister Salam Fayed.

Erekat said that at Tuesday’s meeting, the Palestinians demanded an end to the Israeli military takeover of seven of eight main Palestinian towns and cities, while the Israelis sought a halt to Palestinian suicide bombings and other attacks.

Peres’ office said that the meeting was positive and that both sides recognized the need to continue talks, which had all but stopped in 21 months of violence.

Despite low expectations, the resumption of dialogue provided a rare glimmer of hope that the two sides may be able to revive peacemaking. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that although peace “looks distant at this time, it seems to me that maybe some type of window has been opened.”

The White House later said President Bush had spoken by telephone to Sharon and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah and urged them to pursue peace. At a news conference Monday, Bush reiterated his demand for Palestinian reforms, but he also said progress had been made and called on Israel to reciprocate by easing some curbs on the movement of Palestinians.

As talks continued, Israel swore in Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon as the army’s new chief of staff, replacing Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz. Yaalon had been Mofaz’s deputy and is expected to continue his predecessor’s hard line against Palestinian violence.

In the shooting Tuesday in Jerusalem, the gunman fled after firing on a group of Israeli police officers and wounding one of them at an entrance to the Old City.

“The assailant tried to escape. Police fired several shots at him. He returned fire and hit a Palestinian passerby, who was killed,” police said. Police later said they arrested the suspected gunman after a search.

Meanwhile, Palestinian sources said Israeli troops killed Islamic Jihad militant Muannar Qassin Daraghmeh, 22, after they stopped his car near the West Bank city of Jenin. The army said it knew of no such incident.