It is only on rare occasions that Israeli politics provides us with distilled decisive moments. It is possible that over the next few weeks Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will find himself facing a cruel decision. There is nothing more anathema to him than having to make choices in which he is damned and doomed whatever he decides.

A master of indecision, Netanyahu would rather skirt challenges than grapple with them. He would rather wear out his adversaries than triumph over them. If US Secretary of State John Kerry, Israeli chief negotiator Tzipi Livni, US special envoy Martin Indyk and Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian chief negotiator, are able to salvage the prisoner release deal that collapsed earlier this month and come up with a new package, Netanyahu will have to face himself and choose sides. His options would be between Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett and US President Barack Obama. It will either be Israel’s messianic political right or the United States.

A rational reader might think that this is a no-brainer. After all, what rational Israeli prime minister would prefer Bennett to Obama and Kerry. Yet, those well-versed in Israel’s domestic politics and Netanyahu’s inner workings know that this dilemma is clearly a cruel one. For Netanyahu, it is to be, or not to be. Here’s a summary of the previous chapters.

After the earsplitting and ballyhooed blowup of the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, as well as Kerry’s “poof!” speech (not intended to hold Israel responsible, but sounding like it), the two sides resumed the US-brokered talks and began drafting a plan to salvage the deal and extend the negotiations between them by another year. Why were the negotiations resumed? Because the other option — namely, their derailment — is bad news all around, including for the Palestinians.