Tel Aviv, Israel ? Prime Minister Ariel Sharon crushed Benjamin Netanyahu in a contest Thursday for the leadership of their rightist Likud Party, setting the Israeli leader on the path to probable victory in January’s general elections.

The lopsided primary vote – with more than 60 percent backing Sharon – came on a day shadowed by terror attacks against Israelis in Kenya and at home, including a shooting at a Likud polling place in the northern Israeli town of Beit Shean that left six Israelis dead and dozens wounded. The two Palestinian gunmen also were killed.

“What happened today was part of an effort by terrorists to affect the democratic system in Israel,” a weary-looking, hoarse Sharon told supporters at a muted victory celebration early today at party headquarters in Tel Aviv. “We won’t surrender to terror, and we will win.”