Ramallah, Apr 18 (IANS): The Israeli police have arrested three Palestinian electoral candidates attempting to hold a news briefing in East Jerusalem, sources said here.

Two of the candidates are on the list of the Fatah party led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and the third is on the list of the Palestinian Democratic Union, Xinhua news agency quoted the sources as saying on Saturday following the arrests.

The three candidates planned to hold a news conference to call on the international community to pressure Israel to allow the elections to be held in East Jerusalem, the sources added.

Wassel Abu Yousef, a member of the executive committee of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), told reporters that Abbas will chair a meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Sunday to discuss the possibility of enabling the Palestinians in East Jerusalem to participate in the upcoming elections.

"The PLO and the Palestinian leadership will never accept that the elections are only held in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip without East Jerusalem," he said.

Palestine will hold the legislative elections on May 22, presidential elections on July 31, and the elections of the Palestinian National Council, the highest decision-making body of the PLO, on August 31.

The Palestinians insist that they want to hold the general elections to elect a new Parliament and President in all Palestinian territories, including the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The Palestinians in East Jerusalem participated in the last presidential and legislative elections held in 2005 and 2006.