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So, which time period do we find ourselves? An American leader, following an extended period of tacit encouragement, has at last become involved to end an Israeli military offensive that has transformed swaths of a Middle Eastern city to rubble, causing many thousands dead and prompting global outrage.

The campaign has come after a succession of assaults on Israel. Now, responding to pressure from the US administration, the prime minister of Israel, a conservative politician with a gift for populist rhetoric and a strong feeling of historic Zionist mission, has approved a truce.

Historical Parallels

The era is not the current year, but four decades ago. The city is not Gaza City, but Beirut, Lebanon. The president is President Reagan, not today's leadership.

There are significant distinctions between what happened in the Lebanese nation more than four years past and what has happened in Palestinian territories in the recent period. The Hamas raid of recent times, which killed twelve hundred and included numerous seized, shows limited similarity with the somewhat modest actions of the Palestinian leadership in the year or so before military entry of the Lebanese nation.

Remarkable Resemblances

Several similarities are remarkable. Reagan finally contacted the prime minister, informing him that the situation in the capital was "a holocaust" and indicating the relations between their nations could be gravely damaged if the conflict continued.

At that time, much as today, the conflict developed in real time on millions of screens. Hundreds reporters entered the city to report on for the premier occasion an Middle Eastern conflict without media restrictions by either side.

Results and Outcomes

The situation following the conversation from American leadership and the halt in fighting in Beirut is revealing. The Palestinian organization, its factions and leaders were scattered across thousands of miles and a multiple nations.

Washington then removed international forces – a violation of the arrangement with Arafat. The elected leader, the country's recently chosen president and Israeli-supported figure, was murdered by Damascus operatives.

Middle Eastern Changes

The same was true across the rest of the region. By the late seventies, the increasingly non-religious and forward-thinking concepts that had appeared to provide the potential of a new future in the regional countries years before were weakened.

The consequences of this emerged rapidly, very quickly

In various nations, the Israeli state and the US now confronted adversaries who were much more intractable, deadly and efficient than the progressive groups and independence advocates of the past.

Western Response

Among Western nations, the consequences of this were unexpected. During the seventies, global observers and officials had attempted to comprehend what caused militant radicalism.

Subsequently, in the early 1980s, this stopped. Political leaders in the America, the United Kingdom and other nations were lost interest in "root causes" of unrest.

Contemporary Echoes

In recent days, reports indicate that present administration told Israeli counterparts that the country could not oppose international consensus and admitted national hopes for a independent nation.

This also was an echo of that earlier period. In the wake of the military incursion of Lebanon, earlier administration told Israel that the capability of its armed forces alone could not "establish permanent resolution" and accepted "justified demands of the Arab residents."

But a US-led comprehensive agreement supposed to address those complaints failed to progress. Abroad, political figures looked on impotently.

Global attention in the region waned. Israel opposed compromises. Subsequently, there was the first intifada, and the establishment of further armed organizations.

• The patterns of the past provide thought-provoking lessons for current diplomatic initiatives
• Enduring agreements require dealing with fundamental problems rather than brief halts
• Local circumstances continue to change in multifaceted and frequently surprising ways