Aug. 13, 2020, marked the diplomatic climax of decades of back-channel dealings between Israel and the United Arab Emirates — and the making of history. President Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed jointly announced the agreement to open bilateral relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

As senior adviser to the president Jared Kushner noted with surprise, many in the American and European news media and foreign policy establishment were stunned by this landmark accord, one that uprooted decades of failed Middle East policy in the West. No one seemed to expect that Trump’s alternative peace plan would work, yet such a momentous deal is reality — and it has far-reaching implications for the world that will reshape the Near East geopolitical landscape for decades to come.