What: Hunger strikers hold a vigil outside of journalists’ syndicate. Activists protest Netanyahu outside journalists’ syndicate

When: 2 PM and 6 PM

2 pm. Hunger strikers, including 88-year-old Jewish Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein, will hold a vigil outside the Journalists’ Syndicate. Eleven people are refusing all food until the Gaza Freedom March is allowed to proceed to Gaza. “We are doing this hunger strike in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza who are hungry for food, shelter, and most of all for their freedom,” said Nic Abramson, an American Jew from Woodstock New York, who celebrates his sixty-ninth birthday today.

6 pm. Protest against Netanyahu at the Journalists’ Syndicate. Gaza Freedom Marchers will join local organizations to protest the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to President Mubarak. Israel controls most of Gaza’s borders and has maintained a blockade of Gaza for several years. During Operation Cast Lead, which began on December 27, 2008, the Israeli army killed over 1400 Gazans and destroyed 4000 homes and 80 government buildings. Since that time, Israel has prevented the entrance of humanitarian and medical aid and supplies necessary to rebuild critical infrastructure. The Gaza Freedom March aims to draw the world’s attention to this illegal state of siege, which amounts to a form of collective punishment outlawed by the Geneva Convention. The March, which has been prevented from leaving for Gaza by the Egyptian authorities, is a nonviolent, peaceful attempt to bring in needed humanitarian aid and to take a stand for the human rights of Gazans, Palestinians and all people. March organizer Max Ajl says, “The Israeli government is complicit in this siege. It’s American-Israeli policy and we’re marching to end it.”