The ten months moratorium on Jewish constructions in the West Bank, land the Palestinians want for their state, is over.

The freeze on building was imposed in order to get the Palestinians back to the negotiating table after nearly two years of no talks at all, but the Palestinians chose to enter into direct talks only a month before the end of the moratorium, and now they are threatening to leave the talks if the freeze isn’t extended.

Both leaders, Mahmud Abbas and Benjamin Netanyahu have cornered themselves in to a position that will make it hard for them to compromise but that’s exactly what they need to do. Abbas’s position, one that is supported by the US President is that the freeze should be extended as long as the negotiations are in progress, or until the issue of borders is agreed on. This will allow both sides to resume building, each on the agreed side of the new border. Netanyahu’s position is that the Palestinians have wasted nine precious months before entering the talks and his right wing partners in the Israeli government will not allow him to continue the moratorium.

Moments like this one, are exactly the reason leaders are elected for, moments where decisions need to made, political risks need to be taken and the right thing needs to be done. Netanyahu can and should extend the warrant on the construction freeze for as long as the border issue is on the table. The Israeli Prime Minister’s sincerity about two states, Israel and Palestine is on the line, if Israeli bulldozers will hit the ground by sunrise tomorrow, many will doubt Netanyahu’s honesty.

Abbas needs to overcome this hurdle by staying at the negotiating table despite the termination of the freeze, and put Netanyahu to the test of his two states vision.

The American President is to serve as the referee in this battle, and side with the one that puts fewer obstacles on the way to peace.