Two ground-shaking events have happened this week. The first was the much publicised visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Oman, an Arab Gulf State, at the invitation of the country’s leader, Sultan Sayyid Qaboos bin Said Al Said. In another first, the Israeli national anthem, the Hatikvah, was played when Israeli athletes stood on the podium at the Judo Grand Competition in Abu Dhabi, Untied Arab Emirates. In the past, if Israeli athletes were begrudgingly allowed to play, and won, it was without their flag or national anthem. Often they were barred from playing sport, even in internationally run sporting events. These come on top of behind-the-scenes co-operation between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

So is this a new beginning? Only time will tell. PD suspects though, that rather than a change of heart, the Arab countries are changing strategy because they fear Iran and its proxies in Syria, Lebanon and Gaza, as well as Islamic State, and they feel that Israel may be their only hope of survival. All this is normal in the ever-shifting alliances and feuds in the Middle East.