The Arab-Israeli conflict is fading

SEVEN DECADESUAE of official ostracism ended with a few strokes of a pen. On September 15th, at a ceremony in Washington (pictured), Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates () established formal diplomatic relations with Israel. They are the first Gulf states to do so. The documents they signed were thin: details of flights, commerce and the exchange of ambassadors must be worked out. Still, in one afternoon, Israel doubled the number of Arab countries with which it has official ties. It also has informal relations with at least five others, from Oman to Morocco.It was a genuine achievement for President Donald Trump, whose attempts at high-stakes diplomacy have been marked more often by stalemate than success. For Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, it validated a long-held belief that his country would not have to make peace with the Palestinians to enjoy better regional ties. (It was also a welcome excuse to get out of Israel, where covid-19 cases are surging and the public is furious about a newly imposed three-week lockdown over Judaism’s holiest festivals.)