The front-running candidate in this weekend's Palestinian presidential election, Mr Mahmoud Abbas, has called for peace talks with Israel. Meanwhile, second placed candidate Mr Mustafa Barghouti was arrested earlier in Jerusalem.
Mr Abbas said that after Sunday's election he would welcome peace talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
"After the elections, we will start negotiations," Abbas said. "Ariel Sharon is an elected leader and we will negotiate with him. We will put the 'road map' on the table and say that we are ready to implement it completely."
Mr Mahmoud Abbas
The internationally backed "road map," which envisions an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, was presented in June 2003. Implementation quickly stalled because Israel did not dismantle dozens of West Bank outposts and continued construction in settlements on Palestinian land.
Palestinian militant groups appear ready to give Abbas a chance. Ala Sanakra, a local leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent offshoot of Abbas' Fatah movement, said Abbas wants to negotiate a cease-fire with Israel. Sanakra said his militants would go along if Israel stops its military activity.
Mr Abbas' comments come in a bloody week when Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians and wounded six in the deadliest single incident in the Gaza Strip in three months.
Meanwhile, another candidate Mr Mustafa Barghouti, who is running a distant second to Mr Abbas, was detained by Israeli police as he tried to enter the Old City of Jerusalem to pray at the al Aqsa mosque today.
After about an hour of questioning, he was escorted to a West Bank checkpoint
and released.
It was the second time Jerusalem police have arrested Mr Barghouti, who lives in
the West Bank, during the campaign.
Israeli authorities said Mr Barghouti had violated an agreement not to campaign
at the sensitive mosque compound, where thousands of people pray on Fridays.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said he took advantage of a permit allowing him to enter the city for a meeting with a team of American election monitors led by former US President Jimmy Carter.
"His obvious objective was to create a public disturbance that would serve his election campaign while abusing the goodwill of the government of Israel," the ministry said.
Agencies