HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- President Fidel Castro led thousands of Cubans
                 in a political rally late Thursday to express support for Palestinians and condemn
                 alleged Israeli "genocide" in the Middle East conflict.

                 Culminating a week of official acts of solidarity with Palestinians, Castro and
                 other senior communist leaders sat at the front of the demonstration at the
                 "anti-imperialist" square opposite the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana.

                  "We want to demand the end of the genocide against our brother Arab
                  nation," one student orator, Dayron Roque Lazo, told the crowd of 10,000.
                  "Long live the heroic Palestinian people! Long live the Arab peoples who
                  fight against imperialism! Socialism or Death!"

                 Cuba broke relations with Israel in the early 1970s and has been a staunch
                 supporter of the Palestine Liberation Organization's fight for an independent
                 state.

                 At Thursday's rally, speakers alternated with singers, poets and pantomime
                 artists acting out scenes of violence in the Middle East. Most of the speakers
                 also condemned Cuba's political archenemy, the United States, for its backing of
                 Israel.

                 The state-organized demonstration followed a week of pro-Palestinian activities
                 in Cuba. Events included a two-day U.N.- organized regional forum on the
                 Middle East question, and a round-table discussion on state television also
                 attended by Castro.

                   Copyright 2001 Reuters