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So, what time period are we in? A US president, following an extended period of implicit backing, has ultimately stepped in to end an Israeli military offensive that has reduced large areas of a city in the Middle East to debris, leaving many thousands killed and generating worldwide anger.

The campaign has been preceded by a series of strikes on the Israeli nation. Presently, under pressure from the White House, the Israeli prime minister, a conservative politician with a gift for popular speech and an intense sense of historic Zionist mission, has agreed to a ceasefire.

Historical Comparisons

The year is not the current year, but the early 1980s. The city is not present-day Gaza, but Beirut, Lebanon. The US leader is the Reagan administration, not the current administration.

There are many differences between what happened in Lebanon more than four decades ago and what has happened in Gaza in the recent period. The October attack of recent times, which resulted in over a thousand and involved numerous seized, shows limited similarity with the somewhat modest efforts of the Palestinian leadership in the time before the Israeli incursion of the Lebanese nation.

Striking Parallels

Several similarities are remarkable. Reagan finally picked up the phone the Israeli leader, informing him that events in Beirut was "a holocaust" and indicating the relationship between their states could be gravely damaged if the conflict persisted.

During that period, much as today, the fighting developed in real time on millions of screens. Hundreds correspondents entered Beirut to document for the premier occasion an Arab–Israeli war without censorship by the combatants.

Results and Outcomes

The situation following the communication from American leadership and the truce in the city is revealing. The PLO, its divisions and leaders were scattered across thousands of miles and a multiple nations.

Washington then pulled out international forces – a violation of the understanding with Arafat. Bashir Gemayel, the country's newly elected president and Israel's chosen ally, was killed by Syrian security services.

Middle Eastern Changes

Similar patterns emerged across the rest of the region. By the end of the 1970s, the increasingly non-religious and forward-thinking concepts that had appeared to provide the potential of a new future in the Arab and Islamic worlds previously were discredited.

The outcomes of this were quickly apparent, almost immediately

In various nations, the Israeli state and the US now faced enemies who were considerably more intractable, deadly and capable than the secular movements and patriotic organizations of earlier years.

International Reaction

Internationally, the consequences of this were counterintuitive. Throughout the 1970s, global observers and government representatives had tried to analyze what led to violent extremism.

Then, in the start of the eighties, this ended. Political leaders in the US, the UK and additional countries were lost interest in "underlying reasons" of unrest.

Contemporary Echoes

Recently, sources suggest that present administration informed the nation's leadership that Israel could not oppose international consensus and recognized national hopes for a state.

This also was an parallel of 1982. In the wake of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, previous leadership told the Israeli government that the capability of its military alone could not "achieve just and lasting peace" and recognized "proper claims of the Palestinian people."

However a internationally-backed diplomatic initiative supposed to address those grievances stalled completely. From exile, political figures observed powerlessly.

Global attention in the Middle East diminished. Israel resisted any concessions. Subsequently, there was the major unrest, and the creation of additional militant groups.

• The cycles of history provide thought-provoking perspectives for current peace efforts
• Enduring agreements require addressing underlying issues rather than brief halts
• Area politics continue to change in complicated and sometimes unexpected ways