A Lasting Ceasefire Between the Israeli State and Palestine? We have Witnessed Similar Promises – The Outcome Was Further Conflict

So, what time period do we find ourselves? The White House occupant, after months of tacit encouragement, has finally intervened to stop an Israeli military offensive that has reduced extensive sections of a city in the Middle East to rubble, causing numerous individuals dead and prompting international condemnation.

This military action has been preceded by a series of attacks on the Israeli nation. Now, under pressure from American leadership, the Israel's leader, a right-leaning figure with a gift for popular speech and a deep conviction of historical Jewish national duty, has agreed to a halt in hostilities.

Historical Parallels

The era is not present day, but four decades ago. The urban center is not present-day Gaza, but Beirut. The American president is the Reagan administration, not Donald Trump.

Exist numerous variations between the events in Lebanon more than four decades ago and recent developments in the Gaza Strip in the last 24 months. The militant assault of recent times, which resulted in over a thousand and included numerous taken hostage, shows limited similarity with the relatively paltry activities of the Palestinian leadership in the year or so prior to military entry of Lebanon.

Uncanny Similarities

Several similarities are remarkable. The US leader eventually made the call the prime minister, telling him that the situation in the capital was "a catastrophe" and explaining the diplomatic ties between their countries could be gravely damaged if the fighting carried on.

At that time, comparable to present circumstances, the war developed in real time on televisions worldwide. Many journalists flew into Beirut to cover for the first time an Middle Eastern conflict without censorship by the combatants.

Subsequent Developments

What happened subsequent to the conversation from Reagan and the halt in fighting in Beirut is revealing. The Palestinian organization, its divisions and officials were scattered across multiple countries and a multiple nations.

American leadership then pulled out US-led peacekeepers – an infringement of the agreement with PLO leadership. The Lebanese president, Lebanon's newly elected head of state and Israel's preferred proxy, was killed by Syrian intelligence.

Middle Eastern Changes

The same was true across the rest of the region. By the late seventies, the predominantly worldly and modern approaches that had looked to deliver the hope of a changed reality in the Middle Eastern nations a decade or so earlier were discredited.

The results of this were quickly apparent, almost immediately

In various nations, Israel and the United States now encountered enemies who were much more stubborn, deadly and capable than the secular movements and nationalists of previous times.

Western Response

Among Western nations, the results of this were unexpected. Through the 1970s, western analysts and officials had sought to understand what caused violent extremism.

Subsequently, in the start of the eighties, this stopped. Government officials in the America, the UK and other nations were no longer interested in "underlying reasons" of conflict.

Modern Parallels

In recent days, accounts show that today's officials informed Israeli counterparts that the state could not oppose international consensus and acknowledged territorial ambitions for a state.

Similarly was an repetition of that earlier period. In the wake of the armed entry of that nation, previous leadership told Israel that the power of its defense establishment alone could not "bring just and lasting peace" and acknowledged "legitimate rights of the Palestinian population."

However a internationally-backed regional peace plan intended to address those grievances stalled completely. From exile, political figures looked on powerlessly.

International interest in the area waned. The state resisted any concessions. Later, there was the major unrest, and the establishment of additional militant groups.

• The cycles of history present thought-provoking perspectives for contemporary resolution attempts
• Enduring agreements require confronting root causes rather than temporary ceasefires
• Local circumstances continue to evolve in complex and often unpredictable ways