A senior official in the Palestinian Authority government told Al-Monitor this week that he and his colleagues were closely watching the Israeli election campaign. However, he said, “We have very little hope for a change in Israel. Even if [Labor Chair Isaac] Herzog and [former Minister Tzipi] Livni win these elections, what kind of government will be formed? Are policy changes possible? We are tired of left-wing Israelis telling us to wait for better times in your government. Since [Prime Minister Yitzhak] Rabin’s assassination we have seen everything and everybody from all political colors, yet we are now further away from statehood than we have ever been before.”

This moderate Fatah official sounded bitter and grim, even when faced with the latest findings of public opinion polls, indicating a trend in favor of the Labor Party. Expressing his despair, he said, “The words interim agreement, confidence-building measures and gradual process are all excluded now from the Palestinian political dictionary.” He gave a long account, describing how at every chapter of the peace negotiations — during the Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon, Ehud Olmert and Benjamin Netanyahu governments, be it with a Republican or a Democratic administration — occupation only grew deeper, movement of Palestinians in their own country was further curbed and settlement construction continued robbing Palestinians of their lands.

Uncharacteristic from his usual pragmatic temper, the Fatah official voiced a warning aimed at the Israeli center-left. He said, “Labor must know that if it comes to power, or takes part in the next government, President Mahmoud Abbas will not agree anymore to participate in 'make-believe peace processes.' We will demand a timeline for negotiations, a deadline for implementation and above all a freeze of settlement expansion. We have learned that the settlement policy is the ultimate test of Israeli peace policies. If these conditions are not met, we will have no choice but to act unilaterally, diplomatically and otherwise. If the center-left is in power, we will explore these conditions with its representatives. If it is again Netanyahu or [Economy and Trade Minister Naftali] Bennett, then even such an exercise as talks becomes superfluous.”

This view is typical of the pragmatic political elite in Ramallah, and it seems they are not bluffing when they say that 2015 will be a "now or never" year for peace.