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Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon Hopes to Build Government of National Unity

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DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: A day after his resounding victory in the Israeli elections, prime minister-elect Ariel Sharon is making his first moves toward taking power. Sharon beat the incumbent Ehud Barak by more than 25 percentage points. The former general says that he wants to form a government of national unity as soon as possible.

We are going to get more on Sharon's plans from CNN's Mike Hanna, who is live now in Tel Aviv -- Mike, quite a day in Israeli history yesterday.

MIKE HANNA, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Well, indeed.

Yes, Ariel Sharon a crushing victory over Ehud Barak -- and Sharon now facing the prospect of forming a government, a government that has to be approved by the country's Knesset, or parliament. Well, Ariel Sharon was out and about today. And after visiting the grave of his wife, who died last year, he went onto the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, this an area known as the Temple Mount, sacred to Jews, also an area sacred to Muslims, who call the area behind the wall on the top of it the Haram as-Sharif, the Noble Sanctuary.

And it is this area that Ariel Sharon visited at the end of September. That marked the first day in what became known as the Al Aqsa intifada, a throwing of the yolk, taking its name from one of the mosques in the Noble Sanctuary. But Ariel Sharon has said repeatedly that one of his red lines in terms of talking to the Palestinians is that Jerusalem will remain the united capital of the united sovereign Israel, this completely against the Palestinian wishes, which is that East Jerusalem be the capital of the Palestinian state.

But peacemaking with the Palestinians still down the line -- Ariel Sharon first has to form a government. Ehud Barak, in his concession speech to Ariel Sharon, has not only lost position as prime minister. He's also announced that he's stepping down as leader of the Labor Party. Sharon wanted to bring the Labor Party into a broad- based coalition government. But with Barak's resignation, it means that the Labor Party concentrating now on leadership struggles -- it is going to be very difficult to get coalition talks under way -- back to you.

KAGAN: Mike Hanna, thank you very much -- Mike Hanna in Tel Aviv. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com