As Rabin, Hussein Celebrate Pact, Mideast Focus Shifts : Diplomacy: Clinton pledges to reward ‘risks’ by other countries in the region. He mentions Syria specifically.

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jordan’s King Hussein took a victory lap through Congress and the White House on Tuesday to celebrate the end of hostility between their countries. But the harsh realities of the Middle East quickly changed the focus to continuing disputes such as those between Israel and Syria.

Standing between Rabin and Hussein at a White House news conference, President Clinton pledged American support to countries that “take risks for peace,” a formula that translates into financial relief now for Jordan and future diplomatic rewards for Syria if Damascus makes peace with Israel.

“I spoke yesterday with President (Hafez) Assad of Syria to reaffirm my personal dedication to achieving a comprehensive peace,” Clinton said. He said Secretary of State Warren Christopher will resume his Damascus-Jerusalem shuttle diplomacy soon.

American and Israeli officials were encouraged by Assad’s decision to let Syria’s government-operated television provide live broadcasts of the Rabin-Hussein ceremonies, a sharp contrast with its usual practice of mentioning Israel only in harshly critical terms.

Mordechai Gur, Israel’s deputy defense minister and a close associate of Rabin’s, said the broadcast may be the first step in a campaign to prepare Syrian public opinion for eventual peace with Israel.

During almost three years of negotiations, Assad has made it clear that he expects improved relations with the United States as a payoff if he reaches a settlement with Israel.

Clinton said that Washington is ready to reward any government that moves toward peace.

“We will support leaders whose boldness and wisdom are creating a new Middle East,” the President said. “Today I have reaffirmed to Prime Minister Rabin that as Israel moves forward in the peace process, the constant responsibility of the United States will be to help ensure its security. I have also reaffirmed to King Hussein my determination to assist Jordan in dealing with its burden of debt and its defense requirements.”

Jordan wants relief from its $700-million debt to the United States, and it wants new American weaponry to modernize its military. Clinton said he will confer with Congress “to achieve rapid action on both these matters.”

In the wake of a car bomb explosion outside the Israeli Embassy in London on Tuesday, of Panamanian authorities’ disclosure that a commuter plane crash that killed 21 people last week had been caused by a bomb and of last week’s terrorist attack in Buenos Aires that killed 96, the news conference focused largely on terrorism.

Clinton, Rabin and Hussein agreed that recent violent incidents were intended to derail the peace process.

Hussein denounced terrorists as “enemies of life, enemies of human relations between human beings, enemies of hope, enemies of security, enemies of what should be normal among people.”

“Nothing irritates me more or is more painful to me than to witness and see acts and attitudes attributed to Islam that have nothing to do with Islam, my faith and my religion,” he said.

For his part, Rabin said that “extreme, radical Islamic terrorist movements (are waging) all-out war . . . against the possibility of the solution of the Arab-Israeli conflict.”

Earlier, Rabin and Hussein addressed a rare joint meeting of Congress with speeches so similar in tone that they appeared to be mirror images.

Both men described themselves as former soldiers, each reminisced about a lifetime spent under the cloud of Arab-Israeli hostility, and both mourned those who died in wars between the neighboring countries.

“I, who served my country for 27 years as a soldier, say to you . . . today we are embarking on a battle which has no dead and no wounded, no blood and no anguish,” Rabin said. “This is the only battle which is a pleasure to wage: the battle for peace.”

For his part, Hussein said: “I come before you today as a soldier who seeks to bear arms solely in the defense of his homeland, a man who understands the fears of his neighbors and who wishes only to live in peace with them.”

It was the first time that two heads of government had addressed the lawmakers during the same session, and the speeches were interrupted repeatedly by vigorous applause. Perhaps the warmest ovation came after Hussein said simply, “Mr. Speaker, the state of war between Israel and Jordan is over.

“The two Semitic people, the Arabs and the Jews, have endured bitter trials and tribulations during the journey of history,” he said. “I come before you today fully conscious of the need to secure a peace for all the children of Abraham.”

Rabin observed: “Walls of hostilities have been built on the River Jordan which runs between us. You in Amman and we in Jerusalem must bring down those barriers and walls, must solve those concrete problems.”

Hussein, seeming to blink back tears, nodded in agreement.

Emphasizing the shared geography of the two states carved out of the old British mandate of Palestine, Rabin said: “The Middle East that was a valley of the shadow of death will become a place where it is a pleasure to live. We live on the same stretch of land; the same rain nourishes our soil; the same hot wind parches our fields. We find shade under the same fig tree. We savor the fruit of the same green vine; we drink from the same well.”

It was the first time that a Jordanian leader had addressed Congress and the first time that an Arab head of state had spoken to a joint meeting since Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1975. It was Rabin’s second speech to a joint meeting of Congress, following one in 1976.

Both leaders referred repeatedly to religion and the common heritage of Jews, Muslims and Christians. As he neared the end of his speech, Rabin whipped a black yarmulke from his pocket and read a traditional benediction in Hebrew.

Times staff writer William J. Eaton contributed to this report.