You can't just scowl seriously and declare "war is hell", and pretend that excuses everything. War may be hell, but it's only hell because of the individual decisions of actual people up and down each belligerent's chain of command.
So when we include decisions, it’s important to be impartial here.
Like many of my generation—Gen X—I was closely following the on-goings because it seemed so close (Berlin wall, Russia seemed like an ally; more peace in our time); but in the end Arafat scuttled the deal because he did not want to compromise and give-up any part of Jerusalem.
“Arafat rejected Barak's offer and refused to make an immediate counter-offer.[100] He told President Clinton that, "the Arab leader who would surrender Jerusalem is not born yet.”
[1]
> There was no possibility that any Palestinian leader could accept such terms and survive, but official statements from Washington and Jerusalem were succesful in placing the entire onus for the failure on Yasir Arafat. Violence in the Holy Land continued.
In regards to the following talks at Taba, which perhaps the wiki is conflating with Camp David, Carter continues:
[2]
> A new round of talks was held at Taba in January 2001, during the last few days of the Clinton presidency, between President Arafat and the Israeli foreign minister, and it was later claimed that the Palestinians rejected a "generous offer" put forward by Prime Minister Barak with Israel keeping only 5 percent of the West Bank. The fact is that no such offers were ever made.
[1]/[2] Jimmy Carter - Peace Not Apartheid (it's on Libgen, go look for yourself like I just did)
If a 10 year old takes up an AK-47 and points it at you what are you going to do? If a woman carrying a child sets a suspicious package down what're you gonna do? This isn't a "decision by the chain of command" outside of ROE for the AO. Everything else is on you.
If your answer is "call the chain of command" your entire unit is now dead. Congratulations. The variance in the decisions is due to the fact you can't make decisions by debating the internal psychology of the moron who may be trying to kill you. Innocent people will die. That's war. I'm getting downvoted to death here because it seems the posh liberals sitting at their desks don't understand what an actual life or death decision feels like. To be honest I'm not shocked. The toughest decision most people make is what to have for lunch and even that is enough to give the yuppies anxiety.