The peace treaty was sealed with a handshake on the White House lawn

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Israel and Egypt have ended 30 years of war with an historic peace treaty brokered by the United States.

The ceremony on the White House lawn in Washington was broadcast live on television. The two leaders sealed the deal with a firm handshake, watched by a smiling President Jimmy Carter.

Both President Anwar al-Sadat of Egypt, and the Israeli Prime Minister, Menachem Begin, described the ceremony as an "historic turning point".

Mr Sadat praised President Carter as "the man who performed the miracle".

"Without exaggeration," he said, "what he did constitutes one of the greatest achievements of our time".

Mr Carter, however, was more cautious, saying the treaty was "a first step on a long and difficult road."

"We must not minimalise the obstacles that lie ahead," he said.

Deep divisions between the two sides remain, and even in their speeches following the ceremony the two presidents revealed how far there is still to go.

Mr Begin spoke emotionally of how the city of Jerusalem could never be divided; while Mr Sadat wasunreservedlyfrank about the question of Palestinian autonomy.

News of the signing ceremony was greeted with angry demonstrations throughout the Arab world. Crowds stormed the Egyptian Embassy in Kuwait, and there was a strike in the West Bank.

The PLO leader, Yasser Arafat, told a rally in West Beirut: "Let them sign what they like. False peace will not last."

He accused President Sadat of betraying the Egyptian people, and said they would eventually eliminate him.

The normally moderate King Hussein of Jordan has now joined President Assad of Syria and President Hassen al Bakr of Iraq in calling a summit conference of opponents of the treaty.

Egypt is thought likely to be expelled from the Arab League as a symbolic gesture of anger at the decision to go it alone in negotiating peace with Israel.

Even in the West, the response to the treaty has been lukewarm. A statement from the nine European Community nations praised the efforts of President Sadat and President Begin to make peace.

But, in a comment bound to anger the Israelis, it added that a settlement could only happen if the Palestinian people were given a homeland.

Pope John Paul II meeting religious leaders in Jerusalem

Since arriving in Israel as part of his Millennium Pilgrimage, the Pope has been under growing pressure to apologise for the Vatican's failure to speak out during the Holocaust.

The 79-year-old placed a prayer into the crevices of the Western (or Wailing) Wall, asking for God's forgiveness for "the behaviour of those who in the course of history have caused these children of yours to suffer".

"I assure the Jewish people the Catholic Church ... is deeply saddened by the hatred, acts of persecution and displays of anti-Semitism directed against the Jews by Christians at any time and in any place," the Pope said.

Thepontiffadded that there were "no words strong enough to deplore the terrible tragedy" of the Holocaust.

A spokesman for the pontiff said he had paused for a moment of private prayer - "something personal" - and laid a hand on the wall.

By placing his prayer, which was typewritten and signed by the Pope, in the wall he echoed the custom of Jewish worshippers over generations.

The prayer was taken from the wall by a government spokesman and placed in the archives of Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial for the six million Jews killed by the Nazis.

Israeli cabinet minister Rabbi Michael Melchior, who hosted the Pope's visit, said he was "very moved" by the Pope's gesture.

The Pope is visiting the most sacred sites in Jerusalem at the climax of his week-long Millennium Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He is the first pontiff to go there in 36 years.

John Paul II had repeatedly said he had dreamt of visiting the region since he was elected pontiff in 1978.

The visit to the holiest site of Islam, Christianity and Judaism, saw around 7,000 Israeli security forces deployed in the ancient city.

City police arrested several extreme right-wing Jewish residents amid fears of disturbances.

Earlier, the pontiff visited the Al Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest Islamic shrine. He was greeted by the top Islamic cleric in Jerusalem and other Palestinian clerics and dignitaries.

Outside the mosque, more than a dozen Muslim protesters screamed at PLO officials after they met the pontiff.

unreservedly: Given without reservation; unqualifiedly（率直地）

pontiff: The pope.（羅馬教皇）