Israel’s founding father David Ben-Gurion once told Shimon Peres that when it comes to war and peace, a leader has to decide either to make peace and pay the price or make war and pay its price. The price of peace is lower. In the long run, there is no middle ground. Gradually, this is the conclusion that the Palestinian leadership is coming to today.
A senior PLO security official close to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that the Palestinian president prefers, for the time being, to hold the middle ground — no peace, no war. But he is beginning to comprehend that sooner rather than later he will have to choose; otherwise, others will decide for him.