A grinning Ariel Sharon, the right-wing leader of the Likud party, embraces Shaul Yahalon, a member of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish political party during celebrations at the Likud election headquarters in Tel Aviv, after Sharon beat incumbent Ehud Barak in the Israeli prime ministerial election early February 7, 2001. Israeli Prime Minister-elect Sharon called in a victory speech on Wednesday for the Palestinians to abandon violence and join with him in achieving a "realistic" peace. Sharon, an arch-hawk and former general, has long been reviled by Arabs, especially over his role as architect of Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon. He swept to a landslide victory over Labour Party leader Ehud Barak in Tuesday's prime ministerial election, held against the backdrop of a four-month-old Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.

JWH