History in a Handshake

A jubilant but strange pledge of peace. No large armies lying smashed and smoking in the far deserts. No victors, no vanquished. This was a search for peace in quieted minds and hearts, though no less perilous for that. Yet it was a profound statement of hope, this singular coming together of Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat on the broad green South Lawn of the White House, with chrysanthemums in bloom and robins calling.

History was sealed less with paper and pens than with a brief handshake that was caught in the click of hundreds of cameras, a scene beamed to...