The West’s alliances in the Middle East are in a sorry state. Turkey is flirting with Moscow and shelling our main Kurdish allies against Islamic State. European diplomats fume at Israel’s destruction of EU-funded Palestinian homes. President Obama has publicly criticised his Arab allies as “free riders”, while one of his senior officials memorably called prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “chickenshit”.

At the same time, one rivalry is softening. The Arab-Israeli conflict, which has raged since 1948, shows signs of a modest, but significant, thaw. To be sure, Israel remains isolated. Only 18 of 21 members of the Arab League recognise the Jewish state. Many Arab states fund, shelter and celebrate Hamas, whose charter promises the obliteration of “the warmongering Jews”. And Israel still bristles when the US and Europe sell sophisticated arms to the Gulf. But under the surface, plates are shifting.

Last month, a retired Saudi general met Israel’s hawkish acting foreign minister, Dore Gold, at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, their second meeting in a year. Last summer, Israel’s former ambassador to Washington boasted of his meetings with Arab counterparts, praising them as “exceptional people”. And in January, Israel’s energy minister quietly visited the United Arab Emirates, after announcing the opening of an Israeli office in Abu Dhabi.

Read the full article in the Telegraph.