A Permanent Truce Involving the Israeli State and the Palestinian Territories? We have Witnessed Similar Promises – The Outcome Was Increased Conflict

So, which year do we find ourselves? The White House occupant, after months of quiet support, has finally intervened to end an offensive by Israeli forces that has transformed large areas of a urban center in the region to debris, leaving many thousands dead and generating worldwide anger.

The offensive has come after a series of assaults on Israel. Presently, under pressure from American leadership, the Israel's leader, a right-leaning figure with a talent for populist rhetoric and an intense sense of historic Zionist mission, has agreed to a halt in hostilities.

Historical Parallels

The time period is not present day, but the early 1980s. The location is not present-day Gaza, but Beirut. The president is Ronald Reagan, not today's leadership.

We find many differences between what happened in Lebanon over four decades ago and current circumstances in Gaza in the past two years. The October attack of recent times, which caused twelve hundred and included 250 captured, differs significantly with the somewhat modest activities of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the time preceding military entry of the Lebanese nation.

Striking Parallels

Some are uncanny. The president ultimately made the call the prime minister, informing him that the situation in Beirut was "a disaster" and indicating the diplomatic ties between their states could be gravely damaged if the fighting continued.

At that time, similar to current times, the fighting unfolded in live on millions of screens. Numerous correspondents entered Beirut to document for the first time an regional battle without media restrictions by the combatants.

Aftermath and Consequences

What happened subsequent to the call from the US president and the ceasefire in Lebanon is revealing. The Palestinian organization, its groups and leaders were spread across multiple countries and a dozen countries.

Washington then withdrew multinational troops – an infringement of the arrangement with Arafat. The Lebanese president, the country's recently chosen leader and Israel's preferred proxy, was murdered by Syrian intelligence.

Regional Transformation

Comparable developments occurred across the rest of the region. By the end of the 1970s, the increasingly non-religious and modern approaches that had looked to deliver the potential of a new future in the Arab and Islamic worlds years before were undermined.

The consequences of this became very clear, in short order

Throughout the area, the Israeli state and the United States now faced adversaries who were much more unyielding, dangerous and efficient than the secular movements and nationalists of previous times.

Global Approach

Internationally, the consequences of this were counterintuitive. Throughout the 1970s, international experts and government representatives had attempted to comprehend what caused violent extremism.

Subsequently, in the start of the eighties, this stopped. National figures in the United States, the Britain and additional countries were ceased being concerned in "fundamental sources" of unrest.

Contemporary Echoes

Recently, accounts show that current leadership told the nation's leadership that Israel could not fight all the world and admitted Palestinian aspirations for a independent nation.

This too was an parallel of that earlier period. In the aftermath of the military incursion of Lebanon, earlier administration told the Israeli government that the power of its armed forces alone could not "bring enduring settlement" and recognized "legitimate rights of the Arab residents."

However a US-led regional peace plan supposed to address those concerns stalled completely. Overseas, Palestinian leadership looked on powerlessly.

International interest in the Middle East decreased. Israel rejected accommodations. Later, there was the initial uprising, and the creation of additional militant groups.

• The patterns of history provide serious lessons for current peace efforts
• Lasting solutions require confronting root causes rather than short-term truces
• Regional dynamics continue to change in multifaceted and frequently surprising ways