At the beginning of this month, a businessman from Hebron named Ashraf Jabari announced the formation of a new Palestinian political party, Reform and Development. Bassam Tawil describes its agenda, and the challenge it faces:

A member of a large Palestinian clan in the city, Jabari believes in economic cooperation and peaceful coexistence with his Jewish neighbors, including settlers living in the West Bank. Earlier this year, Jabari and some of his Jewish friends launched a new economic initiative to advance joint entrepreneurship between Israelis and Palestinians there.

[The new party] calls for focusing on economic prosperity for Palestinians. One would expect a message like that to be welcomed by Palestinians. Here is a man who is talking about helping his people put food on their tables. [But] some Palestinians have waged a massive smear campaign against him, with many denouncing him as a “traitor” and “collaborator” with Israel and Jews. Other Palestinians have even gone so far as to call for his arrest or execution.

The campaign against the Palestinian businessman reached its peak on May 13, after he hosted at his home several Jews for the Ramadan break-the-fast meal, iftar. It is not unusual for Muslims to host non-Muslims for the iftar meal. In this instance, however, Jabari seems to have invited the “wrong” guests: Jews. . . . In the face of the widespread protests [that followed], Jabari’s own clan was forced publicly to denounce and disown him. . . .

The yet-to-be revealed American peace plan, Tawil notes, is reported to involve channeling billions of dollars into the West Bank and Gaza, in order to bring the sort of material improvements Jabari speaks of. It is thus not a promising sign that Jabari’s “talk of ‘economic prosperity’ for Palestinians has turned him into a public enemy.” Indeed, Tawil concludes, “no Palestinian leader has the stomach to face the threats that Jabari is currently confronting.”

On Tuesday, a Hizballah drone attack injured three people in northern Israel. The next day, another attack, targeting an IDF base, injured eighteen people, six of them seriously, in Arab al-Amshe, also in the north. This second attack involved the simultaneous use of drones carrying explosives and guided antitank missiles. In both cases, the defensive systems that performed so successfully last weekend failed to stop the drones and missiles. Ron Ben-Yishai has a straightforward explanation as to why: the Lebanon-backed terrorist group is getting better at evading Israel defenses. He explains the three basis systems used to pilot these unmanned aircraft, and their practical effects:

These systems allow drones to act similarly to fighter jets, using “dead zones”—areas not visible to radar or other optical detection—to approach targets. They fly low initially, then ascend just before crashing and detonating on the target. The terrain of southern Lebanon is particularly conducive to such attacks.

But this requires skills that the terror group has honed over months of fighting against Israel. The latest attacks involved a large drone capable of carrying over 50 kg (110 lbs.) of explosives. The terrorists have likely analyzed Israel’s alert and interception systems, recognizing that shooting down their drones requires early detection to allow sufficient time for launching interceptors.

The IDF tries to detect any incoming drones on its radar, as it had done prior to the war. Despite Hizballah’s learning curve, the IDF’s technological edge offers an advantage. However, the military must recognize that any measure it takes is quickly observed and analyzed, and even the most effective defenses can be incomplete. The terrain near the Lebanon-Israel border continues to pose a challenge, necessitating technological solutions and significant financial investment.