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So, what year do we find ourselves? A US president, subsequent to lengthy of quiet support, has at last become involved to stop an Israeli military offensive that has reduced large areas of a Middle Eastern city to rubble, leaving thousands killed and prompting global outrage.

The campaign has been preceded by a succession of strikes on the Israeli nation. Presently, responding to pressure from the US administration, the Israeli prime minister, a right-leaning figure with a talent for populist rhetoric and an intense sense of historical Jewish national duty, has consented to a ceasefire.

Historical Comparisons

The era is not present day, but the early 1980s. The urban center is not present-day Gaza, but the Lebanese capital. The president is the Reagan administration, not today's leadership.

There are significant distinctions between the events in Lebanon over four years past and what has happened in the Gaza Strip in the past two years. The October attack of last year, which resulted in over a thousand and included 250 seized, bears little comparison with the relatively paltry activities of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the time preceding military entry of the Lebanese nation.

Remarkable Resemblances

Some are uncanny. Reagan finally contacted the counterpart, telling him that events in the city was "a holocaust" and indicating the diplomatic ties between their countries could be gravely damaged if the violence persisted.

During that period, similar to current times, the conflict played out in live on millions of screens. Hundreds journalists traveled to Beirut to cover for the initial instance an regional battle without media restrictions by the combatants.

Subsequent Developments

The situation following the call from American leadership and the truce in the city is revealing. The PLO, its groups and officials were spread across vast distances and a dozen countries.

American leadership then pulled out multinational troops – a violation of the understanding with PLO leadership. The Lebanese president, the nation's newly elected president and Israel's chosen ally, was killed by Damascus operatives.

Regional Transformation

Similar patterns emerged across the rest of the region. By the conclusion of that decade, the increasingly non-religious and forward-thinking concepts that had looked to deliver the hope of a new future in the regional countries years before were discredited.

The outcomes of this became very clear, in short order

Across the region, the Israeli state and the United States now faced enemies who were considerably more intractable, lethal and capable than the secular movements and patriotic organizations of the past.

Western Response

Internationally, the outcomes of this were perverse. Through the seventies, global observers and officials had attempted to comprehend what led to armed fundamentalism.

Then, in the early 1980s, this ceased. National figures in the US, the United Kingdom and additional countries were ceased being concerned in "fundamental sources" of violence.

Contemporary Echoes

In recent days, accounts show that present administration communicated to government representatives that the country could not oppose international consensus and recognized Palestinian aspirations for a independent nation.

This also was an parallel of 1982. In the aftermath of the armed entry of that nation, previous leadership told the nation that the capability of its military alone could not "establish just and lasting peace" and recognized "justified demands of the Arab residents."

However a internationally-backed diplomatic initiative supposed to resolve those grievances went nowhere. Overseas, Palestinian leadership looked on powerlessly.

Global attention in the Middle East decreased. Israel rejected accommodations. Later, there was the initial uprising, and the founding of further armed organizations.

• The repetitions of previous events offer serious perspectives for current peace efforts
• Lasting solutions require confronting root causes rather than brief halts
• Area politics continue to change in complicated and sometimes unexpected ways