Yes, the resolution passed.

But its practical significance is null, and the resolution itself is the most tepid on the subject to gain passage in years, with only 38% of UNESCO’s 58-member Executive Board voting for it. Only 22 states voted for, while 10 voted against, 23 abstained and three were absent.

For comparison’s sake, last April’s vote on what was, from Israel’s point of view, a far more egregious resolution – not acknowledging the historical Jewish connection to the Temple Mount – passed by a count of 33 to 6, with 17 abstentions and two no-shows, a majority of 58%.

Yes, Israel lost Tuesday’s vote, but the trend is definitely headed in the right direction.

The Palestinians, aware of that trend in the international forum, tried – according to diplomatic officials – to come up with a resolution on Jerusalem that the entire European Union could support, or at least from which most could abstain.

In the vote last April, four EU countries voted for, two against and another five abstained.

In another UNES CO resolution in November, five voted against and six abstained. This time, the Palestinians hoped that they could come up with language that all the EU states could either support or abstain on.

Against Israel’s wishes, Germany took the lead in these negotiations.

Israel preferred a resolution with extreme language, which would then be impossible for the Europeans to support or remain neutral on. And the Germans did succeed in watering down the resolution considerably, to the point where it “even” acknowledged that the city is holy to the three monotheistic religions, recognizing some kind of Jewish connection the city.

What was never clear to the Palestinians, however, was the price Europeans would pay for the watered-down resolution.

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