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So, what year do we find ourselves? The White House occupant, subsequent to lengthy of implicit backing, has ultimately stepped in to stop an offensive by Israeli forces that has reduced extensive sections of a city in the Middle East to ruins, leaving many thousands killed and prompting worldwide anger.

The offensive has followed a succession of attacks on Israel. Currently, responding to pressure from American leadership, the Israeli prime minister, a rightwinger with an aptitude for populist rhetoric and a deep conviction of Zionist historical purpose, has agreed to a halt in hostilities.

Historical Parallels

The year is not the current year, but four decades ago. The urban center is not present-day Gaza, but the Lebanese capital. The US leader is Ronald Reagan, not the current administration.

There are significant distinctions between the events in Lebanon more than four decades ago and current circumstances in Palestinian territories in the recent period. The Hamas raid of last year, which caused over a thousand and included numerous seized, bears little comparison with the relatively paltry efforts of the PLO in the year or so before military entry of Lebanon.

Striking Parallels

Some are uncanny. The US leader eventually made the call the prime minister, stating to him that events in the capital was "a holocaust" and indicating the relations between their nations could be gravely damaged if the fighting continued.

At that time, similar to current times, the fighting played out in live on televisions worldwide. Numerous reporters entered the capital to report on for the first time an Arab–Israeli war without censorship by any party.

Results and Outcomes

The situation after the conversation from the US president and the halt in fighting in the city is revealing. The Palestinian organization, its divisions and officials were dispersed across thousands of miles and a dozen countries.

American leadership then pulled out US-led peacekeepers – an infringement of the arrangement with PLO leadership. Bashir Gemayel, the nation's newly elected leader and Israeli-supported figure, was assassinated by Damascus operatives.

Middle Eastern Changes

The same was true across the rest of the region. By the late seventies, the more secular and progressive ideas that had appeared to provide the hope of a different tomorrow in the Arab and Islamic worlds years before were weakened.

The outcomes of this emerged rapidly, in short order

Across the region, Israel and the US now confronted adversaries who were considerably more unyielding, dangerous and capable than the secular movements and patriotic organizations of the past.

Western Response

Among Western nations, the consequences of this were counterintuitive. Through the seventies, western analysts and officials had tried to analyze what caused violent extremism.

Then, in the beginning of that decade, this ended. National figures in the America, the UK and elsewhere were lost interest in "root causes" of conflict.

Contemporary Echoes

In recent days, sources suggest that current leadership informed the nation's leadership that the country could not confront global opinion and admitted territorial ambitions for a sovereign entity.

Similarly was an echo of historical precedent. In the wake of the armed entry of Lebanon, earlier administration told the Israeli government that the power of its defense establishment alone could not "bring just and lasting peace" and acknowledged "legitimate rights of the Palestinian population."

But a American-sponsored comprehensive agreement intended to answer those grievances went nowhere. Overseas, Palestinian leadership watched powerlessly.

Global attention in the area diminished. The state resisted any concessions. Later, there was the major unrest, and the establishment of further armed organizations.

• The repetitions of history present sobering lessons for contemporary resolution attempts
• Lasting solutions require confronting underlying issues rather than short-term truces
• Regional dynamics continue to change in complicated and often unpredictable ways