Israel hosts an unprecedented summit with Arab leaders

DAVID BEN-GURIONUAEUAE never much believed in the prospect of peace with Arabs. When Israel’s first prime minister died in 1973, after years of retirement in Sde Boker, a sleepy kibbutz deep in the Negev desert, his country had just emerged from another war with its angry Arab neighbours. None recognised Israel’s existence. No doubt he would have been shocked by the scene half a century later: a few miles from his tomb, the foreign ministers of four Arab states—Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates ()—met their Israeli and American counterparts at a hotel in Sde Boker on March 27th, clasped hands amid smiles (pictured above), then tucked into kebabs together.It was the second notable Middle Eastern gathering in a week, after a meeting in Sharm al-Sheikh between the leaders of Egypt, Israel and the . Save Egypt, none of the Arab participants had formal relations with Israel until 2020. That they met, warmly and openly, showed how low the Palestinian cause has fallen on the agenda of Arab governments (if not their citizens). For Israel, it was another impressive step, albeit symbolic, towards its widening acceptance as a normal regional power.