MOSCOW – Something of extraordinary magnitude happened in Moscow on 23 May. Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa personally asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to help organize a peace conference on Palestine, at which Russia would be the first non-Arab nation invited.

Al-Khalifa and Putin had two rounds of discussions – one of them closed – during which the main focus was always Palestine. The Bahraini monarch noted that in a rare show of unity, the Arab world had finally come together in agreement to end the war in Gaza. It was implied that Russia was subsequently chosen as the most reliable mediator to end the brutal conflict.

Bahrain – and the Arab League – recognize that the Russian position centers around what Putin had previously defined as the "UN formula": an independent Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem.

That happens to be the position of the BRICS-10 nations and virtually the whole Global Majority. Crucially, it is also the common position of China and the Arab world, reaffirmed in Beijing only one week after the Russia-Bahrain meeting.

The problem is how to implement the "formula" when the US hegemon, Israel's unconditional ally, has a virtual stranglehold on the United Nations.