“When I see these protests that are taking place, it’s an indicator that there’s a lot of discontent with Fatah and its rule, and Mahmoud Abbas and his rule and specifically with where this government is not taking us,” said Diana Buttu, a lawyer in Ramallah who once worked for Mr. Abbas but is now one of his harshest critics. “He’s got nothing to show after all these years, and so increasingly he’s turning inward, and so he’s trying to suppress dissent.”  Akram Rajoub, the governor of Nablus — who has been targeted by protesters demanding that he and Mr. Abbas resign — acknowledged the public frustration. “We feel we have made mistakes in the past,” he said in an interview the day after the funeral, “so we had a buildup which led to what we just experienced in Nablus.”  Mr. Rajoub said Mr. Halawa’s death would be investigated. “Of course this was a mistake,” he said. “The officers should not have reacted this way.”  But Mr. Rajoub, who himself has been at odds with Mr. Abbas at times, said Palestinian critics were playing into Israel’s hands by undercutting the president. He vowed not to let up on what he called criminal elements, asserting: “The Palestinian National Authority is getting serious on trying to enforce the law in the Palestinian streets.”  The instability has consequences for Israel, which depends deeply on cooperation with the Palestinian security forces, and for the United States and other countries that have invested in the success of the Palestinian Authority to establish security in the West Bank and serve as a negotiating partner with Israel. With the peace process long stalemated, many Palestinians see a calcified leadership plagued by corruption and financial problems and too aligned with the Israeli authorities and outside influencers.  The coming municipal elections have highlighted the fault lines. Palestinians have not held national elections since parliamentary contests in 2006 resulted in surprise victories by Hamas. West Bank cities like Nablus last elected new councils and mayors in 2012, with Fatah posting mixed results, in some cases having its mainstream slates outpolled by renegade factions of its own party.  Mr. Abbas, 81, and in his 12th year of what was supposed to be a four-year term, surprised many by calling the October balloting. In roughly half of the jurisdictions, the filing deadline passed with only one slate of candidates, or even none at all, making the elections something between a coronation and a joke. But in the most populous cities, like Nablus, rival factions will compete for office.  Jamal Tirawi, a Fatah central committee member from Nablus, said Mr. Abbas should cancel the vote. “I don’t think this is the time for the Palestinians to have municipal elections,” he said. “The streets are restless.”  The streets in Nablus bristle with an edgy energy. Home to the Palestinian Stock Exchange, Nablus has a bustling center in a narrow valley surrounded by a sea of hillside residences. It was founded by the Romans and has a 2,000-year history marked by revolts and conflict. Its record of violent resistance to Turkish, British and Israeli rulers earned it the nickname “Mountain of Fire.”  The day after the funeral procession, Palestinian security officers wearing flak vests and armed with semiautomatic rifles were stationed outside Nablus’s Old City. In the market, shoppers expressed cynicism about the elections.  “I don’t think the elections will take place, and if they do I don’t believe in them,” said Areej Khader, 47, who was buying parsley, mint and thyme. “They’re all part of the system.”  The latest violence has roots dating to June, when local gunmen clashed with Palestinian security forces. Last month, two Palestinian police officers trying to arrest fugitives in the market were shot and killed. That night, Palestinian forces responded by raiding the market, killing two men they say were armed.  One of them was Fares Halawa, 24. Within days, Palestinian security forces arrested his uncle, Ahmed Halawa, 50, a burly, balding man with a salt-and-pepper mustache who was a police officer and former member of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Fatah’s armed wing. The Palestinian security forces called Ahmed Halawa the “mastermind” of the killing of the two officers in the market. By morning, he had been beaten to death in Jneid prison. Other family members were arrested and released.  Mr. Rajoub, the governor, described the Halawa family as a clan of troublemakers. Supporters of the government, while condemning the beating of Mr. Halawa, said the authorities had to pursue killers of police officers or risk losing control of the territory altogether.  If the Palestinian National Authority does not enforce the law, said Raed Amer, president of the Nablus Prisoners Club, which supports Palestinians locked up by Israeli forces, “it’s game over for them.”  But the fact that Mr. Halawa had been part of Fatah’s security structure suggests just how deep the schisms go. At his mourning tent, relatives denied that their family was a criminal faction and said they had a long history of resisting Israeli occupation.  “We don’t know why they’re doing this,” said the slain man’s brother Abdullah, who was also the father of Fares, the young man killed in the market. “We’re a family filled with freedom fighters. If we’re a family filled with outlaws, then the 20,000 citizens of Nablus who marched in the funeral of my brother are also outlaws.”  He said the battle was not over. “We are not going to remain silent. We want the whole world to know.”  A version of this article appears in print on September 3, 2016, on page A6 of the New York edition with the headline: Elections Focus Tensions Among Palestinians. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
Internal divisions are tearing at Palestinian society, leading to a wave of unrest in the West Bank marked by deaths and a raucous funeral procession.