In an 18th-floor suite in the sheraton Moriah, Ariel Sharon's close advisers and supporters gathered at 10 p.m. last Tuesday to watch the results of Israel's prime-ministerial election. Sharon, the Likud Party's candidate, sat directly in front of the television. When the newscasters announced his landslide win, the suite erupted in cheers as Sharon's people pumped the air with their fists. Only Sharon sat quietly, motionless and hunched. After his maverick, wilderness years as an outsider, the buck now stopped, dauntingly, with him. Prime Minister Ehud Barak phoned to concede.
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