Five ways this week marked a 'new Middle East'

The historic signing of the Abraham Accords in Washington this week represented a turning point in Israeli relations with the Gulf states and potentially could be a major shift in how Israel relates to many other states in the region. If the optimists are right and this is a major shift, then the Middle East will be entering a new era.
The region has a habit of swallowing up optimists and ruining their plans, however. Past assumptions about the Middle East entering a new era have sometimes proven incorrect. What follows are several examples of eras when the Middle East appeared to be entering a new era with mixed results.
This week could mark a new Middle East as Israel, the UAE and Bahrain begin a new alliance system that is also linked to Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Greece and other states that share common interests. This could be a new era of alliances and groupings of countries rooted in these peace deals.
It is worth looking back at other eras that began a new trend in the Middle East to understand how we got here and how this week is also a “new Middle East.”