Yasser Arafat made an impassioned plea to the conference

During the impassioned address he called on the Arab world to support his people against what he said was an Israeli attempt at desecrating his people's homeland with what he called its barbarous attacks by F-16 warplanes.

The foreign ministers in Qatar are trying to resolve their differences to produce the final draft of a communique in support of the Palestinians.

But the BBC Middle East correspondent says that each of the 56 nations represented at the meeting has its own agenda, and the final draft is unlikely to contain any dramatic practical measures.

Settlement issue

During the conference, Mr Arafat also accused Israel of using poison gas and radioactive materials against Palestinians. It was, he said, an unjust war to obliterate Palestinian history from the Holy Land.

According to Israeli radio, a spokesman for the Israeli army quickly rejected as "propaganda" the claims that it has been using depleted uranium and poison gas.

Correspondents say Mr Arafat's appeal comes amid a growing feeling in the Gulf states that the US is not doing enough to put pressure on Israel.

The Palestinians want the Israeli Government to observe recommendations from the US-sponsored Mitchell inquiry into ending the violence, which includes a freeze on Jewish settlement building. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has consistently rejected such a move.

Our correspondent says Mr Arafat has the sympathy of the Islamic world and their verbal support, but finding a common Arab or Islamic approach towards Israel is proving difficult.

Political contacts

Qatar itself has come in for criticism by continuing to host an Israeli trade mission

Sheikh Hamad Al-Thani has called for an emergency UN meeting

Key Arab states like Saudi Arabia and Egypt declined to send their foreign ministers to the conference despite last-minute lobbying by Yasser Arafat.

And Mauritania has embarrassed the Arab League by sending its foreign minister last week to Israel, flouting an Arab call to end all political contacts with the Israelis.

But in an effort to show that this meeting has a practical purpose, the ruler of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Al-Thani, called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to find a way to protect Palestinians.

Explosion

He even called on the US President George Bush to intervene personally to find a way out of the current violence - something he has so far appeared reluctant to do. B>Fatah death

Saturday's meeting comes shortly after the death of an activist from Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction in an explosion in the West bank town of Nablus.

At least three other people were killed and dozens injured in two separate explosions in Israel and Gaza on Friday.

Israeli officials say the dead included Palestinian suicide bombers from three separate organisations - Fatah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas - but the Palestinians are blaming Israel for the Nablus blast, saying it was assassination.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said Israel would maintain a limited ceasefire for "a few more days" to give the Palestinians time to order a halt to violence.