Six years ago this month, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain signed the Abraham Accords on the White House lawn, later followed by Morocco and Sudan. The deal broke the Arab League’s decadeslong policy, in place since 1967, of “no peace, no negotiation, no recognition” with Israel, proving that governments could choose acceptance over isolation. 

As an Ismaili Muslim who has advocated Muslim-Jewish coexistence and normalization with Israel, and who has been criticized for it frequently, I’ve spent the years since wondering what that diplomatic choice actually built.