President Clinton joined the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, to tour the ancient mountain-top fortress of Masada, a powerful symbol of Jewish determination to hold on to their land.
After a dizzying cable-car ride to the remote site at the edge of the Dead Sea, Mr Clinton, his wife, Hillary, and daughter, Chelsea, visited the ruins of the fortress and once-splendid palace where 1,000 Jewish zealots committed mass suicide to avoid capture.
The Clintons were personally guided around the site by Mr Netanyahu, accompanied by his wife, Sarah.
Israelis have long viewed Masada as an important symbol of Jewish courage and determination to survive in the face of hostile neighbours.
In AD73 the Romans surrounded some 960 Jewish rebels at Masada. The rebels successfully defended the fortress during the prolonged siege, but the Romans began building an enormous ramp up the mountain-side to gain access.
When it became apparent that the rebels would be captured, they slit each other's throats, the last one killing himself, rather than surrender. Two women and five children survived to tell the story to the historian Flavius Josephus.
Mr Clinton ended his historic visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, the first by a US president, with the Masada visit and returned to Washington later yesterday.