Opinion polls put Sharon far ahead of his even more right-wing rival on the eve of a ballot of Likud's 305,000 members, and he is expected to soar to victory over his foreign minister in the battle of the hawks.

Victory would be the first step for Sharon on the path to retaining the prime minister's post which he has held for almost two years, despite failing to quell a Palestinian uprising for independence or halt Israel's slide into economic crisis.

Battered by a wave of suicide bombings, Israelis shocked by the violence have moved to the right since the uprising began.

This has strengthened Likud and forced the center-left Labor Party into an uphill struggle to make an impact in the January 28 general election. It also ensures the winner in Thursday's vote will be the front-runner to be premier after the election.

"I believe that I will be elected Thursday and then again in two months," Sharon, 74, said in an interview published by the Ma'ariv newspaper Wednesday.

Three separate opinion polls Wednesday showed Sharon more than 20 percentage points ahead of Netanyahu, despite his 53-year-old rival's attempts to portray the prime minister's leadership as disastrous for national morale.

"Despair is eating away at every segment of society," Netanyahu, who was prime minister from 1996-99, told the mass circulation Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper. The Palestinians are unlikely to welcome either leader's victory because they regard both as hard-liners who stand in the way of peace. They have also made clear they would prefer to have Labor Party leader Amram Mitzna as Israel's prime minister.

Sharon and Netanyahu have both blamed Palestinian President Yasser Arafat for the violence of the last two years. Sharon has refused to meet Arafat for talks and Netanyahu says he wants the Palestinian leader exiled from the region.

SHARON EXPECTED TO WIN EASILY

Likud members can vote from 10:00 a.m. (3 a.m. EST) until 10:00 p.m. (3 p.m. EST). The result is expected around 12:30 a.m. Friday (5:30 p.m. EST on Thursday).

Sharon is expected easily to win the vote, largely because the veteran ex-general is more trusted by Israelis than his rival to bring the security they crave.

He has sought to look tough against the Palestinians, but he also hopes to avoid an escalation in the conflict that could harm US efforts to win Arab support for possible war on Iraq.

Commentators say Netanyahu miscalculated when he sought to outflank Sharon by opposing the eventual creation of a Palestinian state. Polls indicate that a majority of Likud voters accept eventual Palestinian statehood.

Netanyahu accepted Sharon's offer to become foreign minister in the caretaker government that has ruled Israel since Labor dropped out of the coalition government late last month, but he has sniped at him frequently since then.

The leadership battle has been fought against a background of rising tension and violence, including a Palestinian suicide bombing which killed 11 Israelis on a Jerusalem bus last week and Israeli military raids in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Palestinian militant groups vowed Wednesday to avenge the deaths of two of their commanders who they said were killed in an Israeli missile strike in the West Bank Tuesday although Israeli military sources denied the army had attacked them.

A Palestinian was killed in an explosion when he attempted to ram a car loaded with a bomb into an Israeli army post in the Gaza Strip Wednesday and Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinians in the West Bank, witnesses said.

At least 1,682 Palestinians and 662 Israelis have been killed since the Palestinian uprising began.

(China Daily November 28, 2002)