Fresh rifts were reignited on Dec. 11 between long-standing rivals Hamas and Fatah during the first round of the Palestinian local elections. The elections, which include municipal councils and local government bodies, are typically held every four or five years and last took place in 2017. Sunday’s elections were held in the Israeli-occupied West Bank as opposed to the Gaza Strip, where Hamas refused to hold them following a fallout with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party. The group stated in September that it “would not be part of … fragmented municipal elections” after Abbas cancelled the parliamentary and presidential elections in the Palestinian territories earlier this year. Instead, the terrorist organization on Sunday opted to appoint members of local and municipal councils from a selection of its supporters or those who, like itself, were angry at the Fatah party. The move sparked a fresh rift between the Islamist group and the Palestinian nationalist social-democratic political party, with the latter accusing …