WADI ARABA, Israel-Jordan Border -- With prayers, colored balloons and a 21-gun salute, Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty Wednesday to end 46 years of war and launch the Middle East into a new era of hope.


The historic accord, a miracle in the desert that no one could have imagined just months ago, was signed at 2:10 P.M. by prime ministers Yitzhak Rabin of Israel and Abdul-Salam Majali of Jordan, with President Bill Clinton and King Hussein of Jordan looking on.


Clinton, the guest of honor, issued a stern warning to Arab hardliners resisting the accord "in their zeal to kill hope and keep hatred alive."


"We cannot, we must not, we will not let them succeed," he declared, to applause from the 5,000 invited guests.


Just hours before he spoke, guerrillas reportedly belonging to the Iran-backed Hizbollah fired rockets into northern Israel in an apparent gesture of disapproval of the colorful ceremony in the desert near the Red Sea.


But at Wadi Araba, the only shots came from the Israeli and Jordanian cannons saluting the peace.


For Jordanians and Israelis watching on television, the emotion was heightened when Clinton sat down at an oak table to co-sign the treaty. His face reddened and his eyes grew teary, as though he was crying, although it may have been the stiff, dusty wind.


Clinton led an array of foreign dignitaries who came to this freshly asphalted patch of desert in a show of international solidarity against the opponents of the treaty and their terrorist tactics.


They gathered in a former minefield straddling the border -- Israeli generals in combat fatigues mixing with Jordanians in red keffiyeh headdresses; diplomats in ties and farmers in open-necked shirts; former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and Israeli elder statesman Abba Eban, and ordinary people invited because they lost loved ones in the wars. As they waited for the ceremony to start, the leaders presented an idyll of harmony -- Israeli President Ezer Weizman, a former fighter pilot, chatting with Hussein's brother Hassan; Hussein, a descendant of the prophet Mohammed, shaking hands with Rabin, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants.


Hussein vowed that it would not be simply a piece of paper. "It will be real ... no more deaths, no more misery, no more suspicion, no more fear, no more uncertainty."


In a speedy demonstration of the fruits of peace, Israel announced that it opened direct phone links with Jordan.


Rabin, 72, the ex-general who fought two wars against Jordan, spoke directly to the Israeli and Jordanian mothers giving birth on the historic day.


"The peace that was born today gives us all hope that the children born today will never know war between us and their mothers will know no sorrow."


Clinton said the United States stood behind the peacemakers and called on the two nations to "open your borders, open your hearts. Peace is more than an agreement on paper. It is feelings, it is activity, it is devotion."


The leaders observed a minute's silence for the war dead. A Moslem sang from the Koran; a rabbi recited a psalm.


Clinton and his wife Hillary flew in from Cairo to the Jordanian Red Sea port of Aqaba and then drove by motorcade across the shrub-pocked desert to the shade of a tent at the signing site.


In a last-minute change of plan, Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev arrived to co-sign the treaty. The United States was reportedly unhappy about this, but Russia maintained it had the right as co-sponsor of the 1991 conference that launched the peace process.


"This is the moment warriors in Jordan and Israel have dreamed of. The time of peace has come," said Israeli announcer Haim Yavin in opening the ceremony. The words were repeated in Arabic and English.


An Israeli and a Jordanian girl, each of whom lost a grandfather in Israeli-Jordanian wars, presented bouquets to the leaders.


A large banner proclaiming "Shalom, Salaam, Peace" in three languages stood over the site. The ceremony ended with the release of 10,000 balloons into the desert sky.


After the ceremony, Clinton flew to Amman to address Jordan's parliament.


? Jewish settler leaders Wednesday said police were investigating the possible kidnapping of an Israeli outside the largest Jewish settlement in the West Bank.


An Israeli witness told police she saw a car with blue Palestinian plates stop near the entrance of the Ariel settlement to grab a young man wearing a Jewish skullcap, said Mayor Ron Nachman.