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So, which time period is this? A US president, after months of quiet support, has at last become involved to halt an Israeli military offensive that has turned swaths of a city in the Middle East to ruins, leaving thousands deceased and generating international condemnation.

The campaign has been preceded by a succession of assaults on Israel. Now, responding to pressure from the White House, the Israel's leader, a conservative politician with an aptitude for appealing language and an intense sense of historic Zionist mission, has agreed to a truce.

Historical Comparisons

The time period is not the current year, but four decades ago. The city is not present-day Gaza, but Beirut, Lebanon. The president is President Reagan, not today's leadership.

There are numerous variations between the events in Lebanon over four decades ago and current circumstances in Gaza in the last 24 months. The October attack of recent times, which caused twelve hundred and involved numerous captured, shows limited similarity with the somewhat modest efforts of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the time preceding military entry of Lebanon.

Uncanny Similarities

Several similarities are remarkable. Reagan finally contacted the counterpart, telling him that what was happening in the capital was "a catastrophe" and saying the relations between their countries could be gravely damaged if the fighting continued.

During that period, comparable to present circumstances, the fighting played out in live on global media. Hundreds journalists flew into the city to report on for the initial instance an Middle Eastern conflict without information control by any party.

Aftermath and Consequences

What happened after the communication from the US president and the truce in Lebanon is revealing. The Palestinian organization, its factions and leaders were scattered across thousands of miles and a dozen countries.

The US administration then removed multinational troops – a violation of the agreement with PLO leadership. The elected leader, the nation's newly elected head of state and Israeli-supported figure, was assassinated by Syrian intelligence.

Regional Transformation

Similar patterns emerged across the wider Middle East. By the conclusion of that decade, the predominantly worldly and progressive ideas that had appeared to provide the potential of a different tomorrow in the Arab and Islamic worlds a decade or so earlier were weakened.

The outcomes of this were quickly apparent, in short order

In various nations, the Israeli state and the US now faced adversaries who were much more stubborn, lethal and effective than the progressive groups and nationalists of previous times.

Global Approach

Internationally, the results of this were counterintuitive. Through the 1970s, western analysts and officials had attempted to comprehend what generated armed fundamentalism.

Afterward, in the start of the eighties, this ceased. Government officials in the US, the Britain and elsewhere were ceased being concerned in "underlying reasons" of violence.

Contemporary Echoes

In recent days, accounts show that today's officials told the nation's leadership that the country could not confront global opinion and recognized Palestinian aspirations for a state.

This also was an echo of that earlier period. In the wake of the armed entry of the neighboring country, past government told Israel that the capability of its defense establishment alone could not "establish just and lasting peace" and acknowledged "proper claims of the Palestinian population."

But a internationally-backed regional peace plan supposed to resolve those grievances went nowhere. Overseas, Palestinian leadership watched impotently.

Worldwide concern in the region waned. Israel rejected accommodations. Later, there was the initial uprising, and the founding of additional militant groups.

• The repetitions of previous events present sobering perspectives for current diplomatic initiatives
• Enduring agreements require dealing with underlying issues rather than brief halts
• Regional dynamics continue to develop in complex and frequently surprising ways