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So, which year is this? A US president, following an extended period of tacit encouragement, has finally intervened to end an Israeli military offensive that has transformed swaths of a Middle Eastern city to debris, resulting in numerous individuals dead and prompting global outrage.

The campaign has been preceded by a succession of assaults on the Israeli nation. Currently, responding to pressure from the White House, the Israel's leader, a right-leaning figure with an aptitude for populist rhetoric and a deep conviction of historical Jewish national duty, has agreed to a halt in hostilities.

Past Echoes

The era is not present day, but 1982. The urban center is not present-day Gaza, but the Lebanese capital. The US leader is Ronald Reagan, not today's leadership.

There are significant distinctions between the events in the Lebanese nation over four decades ago and what has happened in Palestinian territories in the last 24 months. The Hamas raid of last year, which resulted in 1,200 and involved 250 seized, differs significantly with the somewhat modest efforts of the PLO in the time preceding Israel's invasion of Lebanon.

Remarkable Resemblances

Some are uncanny. The president ultimately picked up the phone the prime minister, telling him that the situation in the city was "a catastrophe" and saying the relations between their countries could be gravely damaged if the violence carried on.

At that time, similar to current times, the fighting played out in immediate coverage on televisions worldwide. Numerous correspondents entered the city to document for the premier occasion an Middle Eastern conflict without censorship by any party.

Subsequent Developments

The events after the conversation from American leadership and the ceasefire in the city is instructive. The liberation movement, its factions and leaders were dispersed across vast distances and a multiple nations.

Washington then pulled out US-led peacekeepers – a violation of the understanding with the Palestinian leader. Bashir Gemayel, the nation's newly elected president and Israel's chosen ally, was killed by Damascus operatives.

Regional Transformation

Comparable developments occurred across the broader area. By the late seventies, the predominantly worldly and progressive ideas that had seemed to offer the hope of a changed reality in the Middle Eastern nations years before were weakened.

The results of this emerged rapidly, very quickly

Across the region, Israel and the United States now encountered enemies who were much more stubborn, dangerous and efficient than the leftists and nationalists of the past.

Global Approach

In the west, the outcomes of this were counterintuitive. During the 1970s, western analysts and government representatives had sought to understand what led to violent extremism.

Then, in the beginning of that decade, this ended. Government officials in the US, the UK and additional countries were lost interest in "root causes" of violence.

Contemporary Echoes

Last week, reports indicate that today's officials informed the nation's leadership that Israel could not fight all the world and admitted national hopes for a state.

Similarly was an parallel of 1982. In the aftermath of the military incursion of Lebanon, previous leadership told Israel that the power of its military alone could not "bring enduring settlement" and acknowledged "proper claims of the Palestinian people."

But a internationally-backed regional peace plan supposed to answer those concerns failed to progress. Abroad, political figures observed impotently.

International interest in the area diminished. The state resisted any concessions. Afterward, there was the major unrest, and the establishment of new resistance movements.

• The cycles of history offer sobering perspectives for contemporary diplomatic initiatives
• Enduring agreements require dealing with fundamental problems rather than temporary ceasefires
• Local circumstances continue to develop in complex and often unpredictable ways