The new-old Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his partners in the Arab world, and especially in the Gulf countries, overcame the first obstacle thrown their way already in the first week of the government's tenure: Minister Ben Gabir's ascension to the Temple Mount.
Condemnations and protests were indeed heard from all sides, from the command of learned people, and the Emirates even assumed the role of the "guard on duty" and submitted a bitter and unnecessary complaint to the Security Council on behalf of the Palestinians, but the Arab message was clear: We will do everything possible to not allow the Palestinian question to return and impose itself on order our day, and reinvest us in a futile conflict with Israel.
It can be assumed that the Arab countries would be happy if some solution were found to the Palestinian question, which would once and for all neutralize this charged issue, which threatens to flare up and set fire to the entire region every time.
But make no mistake - they show no interest in the Palestinians and their demands from Israel.
And yet, in Arab public opinion, which is usually divided and divided over every matter and thing, the Palestinian question occupies a place of honor that the Arab regimes find it difficult to ignore.
For this reason, they need cooperation on the part of Israel, which is concerned with showing restraint and avoiding high-profile shows for internal purposes that are not really behind them, but which may lead to an unnecessary flare-up.
It is possible, of course, to agree with the claim that the status quo that currently exists on the Temple Mount is not convenient for Israel, and that it not only violates the freedom of religious worship of Jews, but also, above all, ignores the importance of the Mount to the Jewish people.
But on the other hand, the meaning of the status quo is that Israel is the sovereign that actually controls the territory, and the Arab world recognizes this as well.
The fight that flares up in the morning on the Temple Mount does not concern the actual control of the Mount, but is a matter of showmanship and media image, and often also provocations from the Palestinian side, which have nothing to really change the actual situation.
There are those in Israel who wish to fundamentally change the status quo in which the mountain is given as a holy place under the management - but not the control - of clerics of the Muslim Waqf.
But the chance of that is not great, what's more, in the past we missed the opportunity to bring about such a change more than once.
For the first time, the opportunity was missed when Israel failed in the first days after the establishment of the state, in May 1948, in its attempts to occupy the old city where the Jewish quarter and the Temple Mount were located.
Even later, when the war tipped in their favor, Israel's leaders chose to give priority to other issues on the agenda - the establishment of the newly born state, the securing of the borders and the absorption of the mass immigration - and thus left the task of liberating the entire country to future generations.
The second time the opportunity was missed when Jerusalem was liberated in June 1967, but the Israeli government chose to leave the mountain under the management of the Waqf.
In retrospect, it was a historical miss, in terms of crying for generations, because in those historical moments Israel could have dictated its terms and established a new status quo on the mountain, without having to consider the Arab countries that forbade war.
Since then, all Israeli governments have adhered to the status quo established in June 1967, and some of them even went so far, and when they negotiated with the Palestinians, they expressed a willingness to give up control of the mountain.
Today, no one demands that Israel relinquish control over the Temple Mount, and the Arab world and the Palestinians accept, in practice, its presence there.
All we are asked is to show restraint and maintain the status quo, which, as mentioned, has not only shadows, but positive points as well.
It is possible to debate one or another detail of the status quo on the Temple Mount, but it is worth remembering that just as important is the preservation of the Temple itself, of the State of Israel and its interests, which are currently focused on promoting its relations with the Arab world and establishing a united front against Iran.
These are achievable goals and should be given priority, as Ben-Gurion did in 1948, and as the current government ultimately chose to do.
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