A Mostly Symbolic Vote on Palestine's Status at the UN

How to understand a General Assembly vote on Friday.

Palestine’s UN representative Riyad Mansour addressing the Security Council

On Friday, May 10, the General Assembly will hold a vote on Palestine's bid to become a full member of the United Nations. The vote is largely symbolic. An entity can only become a full UN member with the approval of the Security Council, and Palestine's bid failed in a vote last month due to a U.S. veto.

However, this General Assembly vote provides the 193 existing UN member states an opportunity to formally express their support—or lack thereof—for Palestine's UN membership. The resolution also offers some marginal upgrades to Palestine's current status as a "non-member observer state." What it definitely does not do is confer upon the State of Palestine a status at the UN equivalent to that of a member state.

A Symbolic Vote. But Symbolism Matters!

The path to Palestine's UN membership remains unchanged: it goes through the Security Council, which ultimately means it goes through Washington, as the United State…