Since no miracle happened Monday, the weekend polls showed Mr. Ariel Sharon, the candidate of the right wing Likud leading the caretaker Ehud Barak by 17 to 21 percentage points.

The 120 seats of the Israeli parliament is now divided between 18 different political parties, ranging from ultra-orthodox religious organisations to leftist, secular groups and whoever tonight is the winner would depend on some smaller parties to be able to govern properly.

Mr. Sharon can form a right wing Likud-based government, but though it would be a "more homogenous one in its attitude towards the Palestinians" it would also carry the seeds of more violence from the young stone thrower Palestinians.

On the other hand, he is also credited to be willing to form a "national unity government" offering the key posts of Defence and Foreign Affairs to respectively Mr. Barak and Mr. Shimon Peres, the only personality reported by the polls able to defeat Mr. Sharon, but was barred by Mr. Barak.

"Whoever is Prime Minister tomorrow, he would have to face realities", he added, explaining that there are "one platforms for politicians as candidate and another for after victory".

Seasoned Israeli commentators of both sides agreed that Mr. Barak’s hesitations, his two steps forward, one step backward in his dealings with the Palestinians, the concessions made to them without securing anything in return, particularly on security problems, and finally frustrating all his trusted allies and friends, were the main reasons for the outgoing Premier’s "abyssal fall" in the public opinion, the same that had voted massively for him two years ago.

Speaking to Iran Press Service in the Likud Head Quarters in Tel Aviv hours before the polls started, he said, "whatever Barak did was a mistake. The man is no more credible for the Israelis. Even the unilateral withdrawal of our forces from Lebanon, the only major thing he achieved, was a great mistake" he pointed out, describing the Palestinians unscrupulously and systematically as "terrorists".

"But not only Barak failed in his dealings with the Palestinians, but also in his economic plans, as we can see today how bad is our economic situation", he further said.

Others pointed to other Barak’s "major mistakes", like the priority he gave to the Syrian track soon after his election, a time during which he neglected the Palestinians, who felt insulted, without gaining anything but being humiliated by Hafez Asad, too much concessions to the Palestinians, particularly on sensitive and sentimental issues such as the status of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, or Haram el Sharif for the Muslims etc."

Asked if Mr. Sharon had a broader foreign policy that would include the Islamic Republic of Iran, Israel’s main "enemy" in the region, he said Sharon would continue to support the US policy of containing international terrorism.

Meanwhile, Israeli police and security forces were place on high alert to thwart possible Palestinian attacks on Jewish targets during the elections day.

According to an Israeli spokesman, as many 11,000 policemen and soldiers would be deployed throughout the "borders" between Israel and Palestinian Authority, sealing off Gaza strip and the West Bank, where Israeli security sources fear Palestinian extremists might carry out bomb-attacks against Israeli targets in the areas as well as within Israel itself.

Arab states as well as the Palestinian Authority have voiced a great deal of apprehension about the prospects of Sharon becoming Israel's next prime minister.

Predicting a combination of "lengthy negotiations and a continuation of violence", the sources conceded that Arafat does not know what to expect from the former General.

"Let's wait and see what Sharon will do once he takes office", Nabil Amr, Palestinian minister for parliamentary affairs told the "Jerusalem Post".

Sharon was tried by an Israeli court for his role in the massacres of Palestinians by the Lebanese "Phalangist" militia at Sabra and Shatial refugee camps south of Beirut in the fall of 1982.