THE WADI ARABA CROSSING - The Israel-Jordan signing ceremony looked like a desert mirage:
-- Israeli and Jordanian soldiers, once bitter enemies, hugged, kissed and apologized with tear-filled eyes.
-- Rabbis and Islamic priests, both with a biblical claim to Israel, exchanged Torahs and Korans as well as smiles, telephone numbers and even dinner invitations.
-- School kids, some wearing Islamic veils and others wearing yarmulkes, posed for pictures and said "I love you" in Hebrew and Arabic.
"I want to freeze this moment forever," said a teary-eyed Leila Hassan, 32, of Amman, as her daughter, Noor, 10, embraced an Israeli girl.
"Jew, Muslim, Christian. Today we're all the sons of Abraham," she said. "Peace has come to the valley."
Thousands of Israelis and Jordanians on Wednesday put aside their animosity and suspicions for the historic signing of the Israel-Jordan peace accord, ending 46 years of war between the two countries.
More than 5,000 guests, dressed in everything from black Hasidic suits to white Arab disdashas, saluted one another's leaders and vowed to work together to build peace.
"If someone had told us two years ago that things would turn out this way, we would have locked him in a padded room," said Ron Miberg of Israel's Ma'ariv newspaper. "What is happening to us now is what we have yearned for for 50 years."
Israelis and Jordanians were extending invitations to one another as if they were long-separated relatives, often stopping to remind themselves that they were talking to their former enemies.
"What's strange is that on the other side we see human beings," said schoolteacher Nurit Zach from Eilat, Israel. "They don't have horns. They are smiling at us."
Said Jordanian TV reporter Paul Hijazin, 23: "We've always been used to them as the enemy. Now we get to know the Israelis as neighbors, as people, as friends."
The 2 1/2-hour ceremony, held in the middle of the sun-baked desert between Israel and Jordan, was long and rich in symbolism:
-- Two grandchildren - one Israeli and one Jordanian - of soldiers killed in the 1967 six-day war presented flowers to President Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jordan's King Hussein.
-- Five war generals from each side met for the first time, saluted, shook hands and exchanged gifts.
"It's high time both people look to the future together," said chief Anglican bishop Samer Kafiti of Jerusalem, shaking his head in wonder. "It's a turning point, a landmark. Let's just hope it sticks."
No one here is expecting miracles. "They are still Jews, and we are still Muslims," said Jordanian soldier Abdullah Samiri, 26, excusing himself for prayers on the desert sand. "Sugar and salt still don't mix."
Israel's capture of Jordan's West Bank in 1967 led to tensions that still exist between the two countries.
During the ceremony, some Israelis laughed and mimicked the singing of the Islamic holy book - the Koran - by a Muslim priest.
And some Jordanians poked fun at a rabbi reading from the Torah, calling him fat and ugly.
And it wasn't hard to find people from both sides willing to criticize the peace treaty and each other:
-- "We shouldn't be celebrating today, " said Israeli journalist Diana Lerner, 62, of Tel Aviv. "The Arabs still want to destroy Israel. Their kids in school are still learning anti-Israeli, anti-Jewish things. Israel is getting the short end of the stick."
"The accord makes Jordan a total hostage to Zionist wishes," said Islamic leader Ishaq Najjar, waving a Koran. "What historic conciliation is this which asks the killed for forgiveness from his killer?"
And there was one tense moment leading up to the ceremony.
Israeli and Jordanian officials got into a heated argument over who would fire the extra round in a 21-cannon salute.
After a lot of yelling, and some mediation by U.S. officials, the Israelis gave in. Jordan fired 11 shots; Israel fired 10. And they walked away from the joint salute cursing in their own respective languages.
"Well," said Israeli spokesman Yuri Dromi, "the main thing is that we didn't shoot each other."
