Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday blamed political rival Hamas for another failed reconciliation attempt.

Abbas spoke during a rally marking the fourth anniversary of the death of his predecessor Yasser Arafat.

Over the weekend, Hamas pulled out of planned reconciliation talks at the last minute. It demanded that Abbas first release Hamas prisoners in the West Bank.

Abbas told thousands during an Arafat memorial rally that Hamas is divisive and unpatriotic. He urged Arab nations to hold Hamas responsible for the latest failure. His harsh rhetoric made it unlikely there would be a new attempt soon by Egypt to bring the two sides together.

The Islamic militant Hamas seized Gaza in a bloody 2007 coup.

Several thousand Palestinians marked the anniversary of Arafat's death by attending the rally, waving the yellow flags of his Fatah movement.

The veteran leader is still widely revered by Palestinians as a symbol of their push toward nationhood.

But Tuesday's gathering also reminded Palestinians how little progress they've made since his death. They are politically divided, with Gaza now run by Fatah's rival, the Islamic militant Hamas. And a year of peace talks with Israel has produced no tangible results.

"When he passed away, things deteriorated," said university student Abdallah Marabeh, 19, one of several thousand people who attended the rally in the presidential compound in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

During his final years, Arafat lived in the walled complex under Israeli siege. After falling ill in the fall of 2004, the 75-year-old leader was flown to France, where he died in a military hospital.

His wife refused an autopsy and Palestinian leaders have never given a definitive cause of death. French doctors who treated Arafat concluded he died of a massive brain hemorrhage after suffering intestinal inflammation, jaundice and a blood condition.

Arafat's successor, President Mahmoud Abbas, laid a wreath at Arafat's burial site in the presidential compound, where a glass-and-stone mausoleum was dedicated last year. Eventually, an Arafat museum is to be built in the complex.

Arafat's longtime advisers, who now serve under Abbas, said the deepening split between the West Bank and Gaza would have hit Arafat hard.

In 2007, Abbas lost control over Gaza, during a violent takeover by the Islamic militant Hamas.

"I would say today, had Yasser Arafat lived to see the coup and the divisions, he would have died [of heartbreak] anyhow," said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, referring to the Hamas takeover.

No major memorial rallies were planned in Gaza. Fatah and other groups asked Hamas authorities for rally permits, but said they did not get a response.

Hamas said it never received the requests.

Since the summer, each side has deepened control over its territory and rounded up political opponents. Last year, an Arafat memorial rally in Gaza drew more than 250,000 Fatah supporters and ended in mayhem, with seven civilians killed by gunfire by Hamas police.

In the West Bank city of Hebron, meanwhile, several dozen Palestinian youths broke away from an Arafat memorial march Tuesday and hurled rocks and bottles at Israel Defense Forces soldiers. Troops responded with tear gas and rubber-coated steel pellets.

Four stone-throwers were hurt, medical officials said. IDF soldiers chased and caught five others, who were led away handcuffed and blindfolded.