For decades, the conventional wisdom in the Middle East was absolute: no Arab state would normalize relations with Israel until the Palestinian question was resolved. It was an article of faith. It was also a wall that kept nations who had much to offer each other locked in permanent estrangement. In 2020, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Israel broke through it.
The Abraham Accords established full diplomatic relations, open borders, direct flights, and economic partnerships between Israel and Gulf states that had never officially recognized its existence. Sudan and Morocco followed. These weren't just signatures on paper. Within months, Israeli tourists were walking through the souks of Dubai. Emirati business delegations were meeting counterparts in Tel Aviv. Students from both countries were studying side by side.
But one detail stood out above the rest. The UAE — a country that had no historical connection to the Holocaust — added Holocaust education to its national school curriculum. Emirati students began learning about Auschwitz and Treblinka not because anyone forced them to, but because their government decided that understanding Jewish history was part of building a genuine peace. A new Holocaust memorial was planned for Abu Dhabi.
Peace agreements are common enough. Most of them manage coexistence. The Abraham Accords aimed for something harder: actual understanding. That is a different thing entirely.
"Perhaps the reason the Universe gave you a broken world is so that you could have a chance to fix it."