WASHINGTON -- Jordan's King Hussein and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin sealed the end of a 46-year-old state of war between their countries Monday with hearty handshakes and a pact to pursue peace and friendship.


At a White House ceremony in sweltering summer weather, the two leaders couched their signing of a joint declaration in almost biblical terms as President Bill Clinton, basking in a foreign policy success for a change, looked on with obvious satisfaction.


"On this day, at this house of the great American people, we have been able to take a historic step," King Hussein said. "What we have accomplished and what we are committed to is the end of the state of war between Jordan and Israel."


Rabin, taking a slightly more reserved tack, told several hundred sweat-stained statesmen, politicians and journalists in the audience that "another nightmare of war may be over.


"We have gone a long way towards a full treaty of peace," the Israeli Prime Minister said.


It was a political moment reminiscent of last September's electrifying handshake between Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafat at the White House -- a diplomatic breakthrough that paved the way for this meeting.


In Gaza, Arafat congratulated the leaders of Israel and Jordan on their agreement, which crowned the opening session of their Washington summit.


Not so long ago, it would have been inconceivable for King Hussein, a wily survivor of years of Middle East intrigue, and Rabin, a onetime Israeli military leader who helped seize the West Bank and east Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Six Day War, to share the same platform, although Jordanian and Israeli leaders have met secretly for years.


The document signed by them declared that "the state of belligerency between Jordan and Israel has been terminated.


"The two countries recognize their right and obligation to live in peace with each other as well as with all states within secure and recognized boundaries," it said.


"The two countries desire to develop good neighborly relations of cooperation to ensure lasting security and to avoid threats and the use of force between them," it continued.


It also committed Jordan and Israel to a wide-ranging set of steps to normalize relations, including direct telephone links, a border survey, a negotiated sharing of water rights and the immediate opening of two border crossings between the countries.


While it falls short of a full-scale peace treaty between Jordan and Israel, it clearly foreshadows such a pact.


"After generations of hostility, blood and tears, the leaders of the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan and the state of Israel will solemnly declare, with the world as their witness, that they have ended the state of belligerency between them," Clinton said before King Hussein and Rabin signed the accord.


"From this day forward they pledge to settle their differences by peaceful means. Both countries will refrain from actions that may adversely affect the security of the other and will thwart all those who would use terrorism to threaten either," he said.


Clinton heaped praise on the king and prime minister, and said they had agreed to meet as often as necessary "to shepherd and personally direct" their peace negotiations.


Israel and Jordan agreed at their first round of talks in the region last week to open the next negotiating session on Aug. 8 simultaneously on both sides of their border.


As the dramatic summit ceremony unfolded, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Queen Noor of Jordan and Leah Rabin, the wife of the Israeli leader, watched the proceedings from front-row seats.


Afterwards, the leaders, their wives and other dignitaries celebrated with a luncheon at Blair House, a government guest residence across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House.


They were to meet again at a glittering White House dinner Monday night, and King Hussein and Rabin were to address a joint session of Congress on Tuesday.