One of the leading candidates in Sunday's Palestinian presidential election has been arrested by Israeli police on the last day of the campaign. Mustafa Barghouti was campaigning in East Jerusalem, an area that Palestinians hope to make the capital of a future state. The leading democracy campaigner was attempting to enter the al-Aqsa mosque for Friday prayers. Elections were called when former leader Yasser Arafat died in November. His opponent Mahmoud Abbas, the man tipped to win the election, is for his part due to make a campaign stop at a section of the West Bank security barrier Israel is building. **Driven off*** Eyewitnesses say Mr Barghouti was detained by three plain-clothed Israeli policemen as he approached the mosque, bundled into a car and driven off. He had been detained last week and prevented from campaigning in East Jerusalem when he was involved in a scuffle with Israeli soldiers at a West Bank checkpoint. Israel has annexed East Jerusalem and sees it as its exclusive domain. Under international law the area is considered to be occupied territory. The area is often called Arab East Jerusalem because the majority of its inhabitants are Palestinian, and Palestinians hope to make it their future capital. Abbas, who is leader of the main Palestinian political faction, Fatah, has led the race for the presidency since Mr Arafat's death. Both Abbas and Barghouti are regarded as relative moderates, and both have used the campaign to criticise aspects of the four-year-old Palestinian uprising, or intifada. **Peaceful tone*** Earlier this week, Abbas used unexpectedly strong language to criticise an Israeli tank strike in Gaza, describing Israel as the "Zionist enemy". He struck a more moderate tone on Thursday, speaking to large crowds in the West Bank city of Nablus. He repeated core Palestinian demands for an Israeli withdrawal from the whole of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which it has occupied since 1967. But he told a news conference that he would push for peace negotiations as soon as a new Palestinian cabinet was appointed, and described Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as a potential partner for peace. He was surrounded by cheering crowds in the city's Balata refugee camp, including gunmen from the armed wing of the Fatah movement. He denied that militants control the direction of Palestinian policy. "Resistance is a Palestinian right, but here the balance of power is broken, so we have to use peaceful means because it is more useful," he said. **Delicate balance*** Both main candidates have campaigned against corruption and lawlessness in Palestinian society, and both have criticised the armed uprising. The BBC's Maghdi Abdelhadi says they are both striking a balance between appealing to nationalist sentiments and their desire to show the international community that they are committed to a peaceful settlement of the conflict. Also on Thursday, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said troops were beginning a planned pullback from Palestinian areas in advance of the elections. Israel's military will remain outside Palestinian cities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip for 72 hours, he said. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Palestinian presidential candidate and human rights activist Mustafa Barghouti salutes supporters during a campaign rally at the university in the West Bank town of Bir Zeit, near the city of Ramallah, Thursday, Jan. 6, 2005. (AP)