JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon easily won re-election last night as leader of the right-wing Likud Party and its candidate for prime minister in national elections scheduled for January after defeating rival Benjamin Netanyahu.

Sharon's victory came on a day marked by a series of attacks against Israel at home and abroad, including a car bombing in Kenya that killed 15, among them three Israeli tourists; the launch of missiles at an Israeli passenger plane, also in Kenya; and a shooting at a polling station in Israel's north that left six people dead.

The Likud campaign had been dominated by fierce debates over the Palestinian conflict, and yesterday's attacks served as a poignant backdrop to the volatile times while underscoring the difficulties that Israel faces with its Palestinian neighbors and with the larger Arab world.

In Beit Shean, where at least two Palestinian men opened fire at a polling office, bodies draped in blankets were lined up on a sidewalk near a fence plastered with posters saying, "The nation wants Sharon." Election ballots - blue for Sharon and yellow for Netanyahu - were scattered on the blood-stained floor.

Concerned that his 20-point lead in the primary could evaporate if Likud members stayed away from the polls, Sharon went on national television hours before they closed and urged members to vote. At that point, fewer than 30 percent of registered Likud voters had cast ballots. Sharon did not invite Netanyahu, who is his foreign minister, to appear with him.

"Citizens of Israel, don't let terrorists dictate our agenda," Sharon said, his voice rising in anger. "Terrorists are trying to frighten voters and keep them home. It doesn't matter who you support. Go and vote. Go and vote."

Sharon won the election with about 59 percent of the vote, according to exit polls broadcast by three Israeli television stations after the polls closed at 10 p.m. Netanyahu conceded early today. In a brief speech at a Tel Aviv hotel, he told supporters that "we must unite around the prime minister who was elected to lead the movement, Ariel Sharon."

Pledge for united front

Later, Sharon appeared with Netanyahu and promised to present a united front. Sharon's brief victory speech was preceded by a moment of silence, and he demanded that his supporters refrain from cheering and applauding out of respect for the day's dead.

"Together, we will win," Sharon said somberly. "We will beat terror and bring peace."

As head of the party's list of candidates for parliament, Sharon will be campaigning against Amram Mitzna, chosen last week as head of the center-left Labor Party, in an election focused on whether and how Israel can end its conflict with the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In January, voters will cast ballots for parties, and the one winning the largest number of seats in parliament can attempt to form a government. Polls show Likud easily defeating Labor, and Sharon has pledged to try building a coalition government that would include Labor.

During the campaign, Sharon, 74, positioned himself as a centrist, favoring the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state. Netanyahu, 53, a former prime minister, vowed to expel Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and rejected creation of a Palestinian state.

It was unclear last night whether Netanyahu, who three weeks ago joined Sharon's caretaker government, would remain in the Cabinet.

Likud will now focus on defeating Mitzna, who advocates an early resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians and significant concessions, including the immediate removal of Jewish settlements from Gaza.

Sharon was forced to call elections nine months early after the Labor Party pulled out of his government in a dispute over funding of Jewish settlements.

Within Likud, Sharon came across as a sober leader carefully working toward peace while balancing the international concern for Palestinians' plight with his nation's security needs. Sharon was elected prime minister in February last year after promising "peace and security" but has been unable to either crush Palestinian militants or achieve peace through negotiations.

Campaigning in Hadera

On Wednesday, he made his final campaign stop at a banquet hall in Hadera, in northern Israel, where a Palestinian gunman killed six people in January. Sharon slowly and confidently walked to the podium as hundreds of exuberant followers sang last year's Likud election jingle: "Sharon will bring peace, a peace that will protect us."

But several people interviewed remained cautious and said they supported Sharon only because they saw no alternative.

Eliyahu Yamin, 50, was among those watching. He had been sitting at the bar when the gunman opened fire, and he called himself a skeptical supporter. "If he will make change, then good," Yamin said. "This situation is no good. The terror exists. The problems exist. And Sharon's popularity increases. I don't understand it."

Sharon, in his 30-minute speech, wasted no time repeating his tough stance. "This is a city on the front," he said. "We shall win. We shall suppress the bloody culture in a determined way, with consideration and national responsibility. We also will cut the heads off the murderers and those who send them."

He said he would try to form a new coalition government "as broad as possible" and would once again welcome Labor, but only if party leaders agree to the parameters set during the previous year, which include "no negotiations under fire."

Mitzna, meeting with reporters this week, said he would be open to forming a coalition with Likud, but only if the government supported withdrawing Jewish settlers from the West Bank and unilaterally separating from the Palestinians.

Mitzna said Sharon's tough military actions needed to be coupled with more intensive diplomatic efforts. "We don't have any other choice," he said. "We have to speak with our enemies. Arafat is leading the terrorism against Israel. He has positioned himself as an enemy to Israel. But you make peace with your enemies."

Sharon "is only bringing more power and more power and no negotiations," Mitzna said. "The people of Israel know that there is no way to win just by using power. The slogan, 'Let the [army] win' is false. I think that many Israelis understand that better now."

Top Palestinian officials have been trying to get militant groups to stop their attacks, believing that they help Israel's right wing and hurt people like Mitzna. Arafat, leader of the Palestinian Authority, condemned yesterday's shooting, saying it hurt Palestinian interests: "These attacks do not serve the just cause of the Palestinian people but cause us great damage on every level and strengthen the warmongers and settlements of Israel."

The Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, an offshoot of Arafat's Fatah faction, claimed responsibility for yesterday's shooting, rebuffing the calls to stop attacks.

'Kept firing and firing'

The shooting occurred about 3 p.m., when at least two men opened fire and threw grenades at the polling office next to the central bus station in Beit Shean, a city of about 17,000 near the borders of the West Bank and Jordan.

The injured included former Foreign Minister David Levy's three adult children, all of whom were hospitalized last night in serious condition.

Israeli police said the militants, one dressed in green army fatigues and wearing an explosives belt, indiscriminately shot into the crowds.

A bystander told Israeli radio that one of the gunmen "smiled a cynical smile and just kept firing and firing. People were screaming, fleeing; there was total hysteria."

Officers and civilians killed the gunmen after a prolonged gunbattle.