(CNN) -- Israel's security can only be assured when its neighbors believe that it is no longer oppressing the Palestinian people but instead living in peace and harmony with them. The de facto strategy of past and present Israeli governments of seeking security through domination and by pushing Palestinians out of their homes, or allowing right-wing religious fanatics to create settlements throughout the West Bank to ensure that no Palestinian state could have contiguous parts, has not and cannot work to provide safety for Israel. Israel's fate and its well-being are intrinsically linked to the well-being of the Palestinian people. It's time for the powerful to show generosity to the relatively powerless.
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Rabbi Michael Lerner: Israel cannot achieve security by dominating Palestinians
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He says the powerful should show more generosity to the relatively powerless
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Israel, U.S. should support Palestinian move for nonmember state status at the U.N., he says
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Lerner: Hamas serves Netanyahu's aim of marginalizing the Palestinian Authority
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So those in the U.S. and Israel who want @placeholder to be secure should welcome the Palestinian Authority's decision to seek observer status as a nonmember state in the United Nations.
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If the pull-out had been done in cooperation with the Palestinian Authority, there would have been no missiles and hence no "proof" that giving up land to the @placeholder would only increase Israeli vulnerability.
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As long as Hamas is seen as the main face of Palestinians, even centrist and left-wing @placeholder will support militarism rather than peace compromises.
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A similar path would make the @placeholder far more popular and far more powerful around the world.
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But this strategy of generosity will take a major paradigm shift in the consciousness of Americans and @placeholder, and for the moment, that seems unlikely.