On Sept. 15, 2020, the Emirati and Bahraini foreign ministers joined Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former President Donald Trump at the White House to sign the Abraham Accords. In a single day, the number of Arab states recognizing Israel doubled. Morocco and Sudan soon followed. The Trump strategy, embraced by centrist Arab leaders, to cease allowing Palestinians to hold broader regional peace hostage appeared to succeed.

Iran, and perhaps Turkey, sought to use the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel to derail rapprochement with Israel. For a time, it appeared to work. Professional peace processors who populated Washington think tanks or surrounded President Joe Biden chided that Hamas’s action showed there was no bypassing Palestinian aspirations.