As the Israel-Hamas war comes to an end, or the possibility of an end, or at least a ceasefire, the prospects for peace are better understood by looking at how it began — or, specifically, when it began.

The Hamas massacres and mass hostage-taking took place on the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. In 1973, six years after Israel soundly defeated its Arab neighbours in the Six Day War, Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on the holiest day of the Jewish year. The Yom Kippur War marked a decisive and diverging moment in Arab and Muslim attitudes toward the existence of the State of Israel.

The creation of the State of Israel in 1948 was opposed, in principle and with military force, by Israel’s Arab neighbours. Israel won that war, but the consensus in the Arab world remained

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