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So, which time period are we in? The White House occupant, following an extended period of implicit backing, has at last become involved to halt an Israeli military offensive that has reduced swaths of a Middle Eastern city to debris, causing thousands deceased and sparking international condemnation.

The offensive has followed a sequence of strikes on Israel. Now, facing demands from the US administration, the Israel's leader, a conservative politician with a talent for appealing language and a strong feeling of historical Jewish national duty, has agreed to a truce.

Historical Comparisons

The year is not the current year, but the early 1980s. The city is not Gaza City, but the Lebanese capital. The US leader is the Reagan administration, not today's leadership.

There are significant distinctions between the events in the Lebanese nation over four in the past and current circumstances in Palestinian territories in the last 24 months. The militant assault of recent times, which caused over a thousand and involved 250 captured, differs significantly with the comparatively limited activities of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the period preceding the Israeli incursion of Lebanon.

Remarkable Resemblances

Several similarities are remarkable. Reagan finally contacted the prime minister, informing him that the situation in Beirut was "a disaster" and explaining the diplomatic ties between their nations could be gravely damaged if the conflict carried on.

During that period, comparable to present circumstances, the war played out in live on televisions worldwide. Many correspondents entered the capital to cover for the initial instance an regional battle without censorship by either side.

Subsequent Developments

What happened subsequent to the conversation from American leadership and the ceasefire in Lebanon is instructive. The Palestinian organization, its divisions and leaders were spread across thousands of miles and a multiple nations.

Washington then pulled out US-led peacekeepers – a violation of the understanding with the Palestinian leader. The elected leader, the country's recently chosen head of state and Israel's preferred proxy, was assassinated by Damascus operatives.

Regional Transformation

Similar patterns emerged across the wider Middle East. By the end of the 1970s, the predominantly worldly and forward-thinking concepts that had seemed to offer the potential of a new future in the Arab and Islamic worlds previously were undermined.

The results of this were quickly apparent, almost immediately

Across the region, Israel and the United States now confronted opponents who were considerably more stubborn, deadly and effective than the progressive groups and independence advocates of earlier years.

International Reaction

In the west, the results of this were perverse. During the that decade, western analysts and government representatives had tried to analyze what led to violent extremism.

Subsequently, in the start of the eighties, this ended. Political leaders in the America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere were lost interest in "underlying reasons" of violence.

Modern Parallels

Recently, accounts show that present administration communicated to government representatives that the state could not confront global opinion and admitted territorial ambitions for a state.

Similarly was an parallel of 1982. In the wake of the armed entry of the neighboring country, past government told Israel that the strength of its defense establishment alone could not "bring enduring settlement" and accepted "proper claims of the Palestinian population."

But a American-sponsored regional peace plan supposed to resolve those concerns went nowhere. From exile, political figures looked on impotently.

Global attention in the Middle East diminished. The state rejected accommodations. Later, there was the major unrest, and the creation of new resistance movements.

• The repetitions of history provide thought-provoking perspectives for present-day diplomatic initiatives
• Permanent settlements require confronting fundamental problems rather than short-term truces
• Local circumstances continue to evolve in multifaceted and sometimes unexpected ways