Forty years ago Monday, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed the Camp David Accords, ending a 30-year state of war between Israel and the largest Arab country. It was a triumph for diplomacy and inspired a generation of officials to dream about what once was impossible: bringing peace to the Middle East.

Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama each launched their own initiatives, but each went nowhere. And as for President Trump’s “deal of the century”: it increasingly appears the diplomatic equivalent of OJ Simpson’s hunt for the real killer.