Seroiously. DOH was ask.
The rest was posturing and chest-pounding for the benefit of a tired, frustrated, and demoralized group who'd sacrificed everything. You know the saying...a most dangerous man is the one who has nothing left to lose. The psychology of the ask was to defuse a volital socio-political situation.
After career, family and economic devistation, there would have been political bloodshed if a memember had resigned that last thread of perceived control of his life. No one would dare risk personal or political suicide to try and seperate the emotional from the logic.
The arbitration was a safety valve, an out. The only venue where the baby could be equally split with everyone equally harmed. It's the only irresitable force available to move an immovable object.
No party belived he would get the ask. That's the way it works. It's naive to believe differently. Arbitration is an appeasement to assuage ego. It's a forum of reason where evereone is necessarily harmed. It's a forum where leaders are spared political suicide. It's where the arbitrator becomes the demon when the baby is split.