Pushing the UN Security Council to vote on a resolution demanding a strict timetable for the end of Israel's occupation was supposed to be a win-win move for the Palestinians.
At least, that's what one of those close to the Palestinian negotiating team told me recently.
In the unlikely event the resolution passed, he said, they would have set the clock running against Israel in the international arena.
In the almost inevitable event the US was forced to veto, he said, it would "expose" what the Palestinians see as the "true positions" of countries that they say favour a two-state solution, but only on Israel's terms.
If it was a move that the US and Israel deemed unhelpful, unilateral and counter to the spirit of negotiations, at least the majority of the Security Council would disagree.
But that's not what transpired on Monday evening in New York.
Failing to achieve nine votes meant the draft did not receive the necessary majority.
The US did not need to wield its veto, and the UK was able to fudge its reasons for abstention.
If this was Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' big play, it was a diplomatic screw-up.
Just the night before, the Jordanians, who put the Palestinian draft forward on behalf of the Arab group at the UN, voiced their uneasiness with pushing for a vote within 24 hours.
If it had been delayed until 1 January, there may have been a different outcome - not in terms of avoiding a US veto, but in getting the nine-vote majority required for the 'symbolic victory'.
Changing seats on the council would have seen Malaysia, Angola and New Zealand replace South Korea, Rwanda and Australia, who either abstained or voted against.
It could have made a difference.
Now the Palestinians must decide whether to try for a second vote with the new Council formation, or push ahead with their threat to sign the Rome Statute and join the International Criminal Court - allowing them to bring war crimes charges against Israel.
Mr Abbas has made joining the ICC one of the key cards he holds politically, and ironically for that reason he may refrain from playing the hand right now.
Not only would it likely draw fierce condemnation from the US, but also possible financial sanctions against the Palestinian Authority.
Israel welcomed the UNSC rejection, and slammed the Palestinian effort as a "march of folly" and a "violation of all understandings".
Yet if there was one message that came clearly from the Security Council, it was this - many world powers now believe the so-called "internationalisation" of the conflict is necessary and the failures of bilateral negotiations are impossible to deny.
France, Russia, in fact all of the countries on the Council apart from the US, voiced such opinions - with China going so far as saying the UNSC should "effectively assume responsibility" for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
It is perhaps those sentiments, rather than the Palestinian draft resolution, that may set the tone for 2015.
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