Thousands of Facebook users have today changed their profile pictures in solidarity with a hunger strike by 1,600 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. The image is of a blindfolded face against a brown background.

The Facebook page, In Solidarity With Prisoners In Palestine, explains that the brown is the colour of the clothes imposed by the "Zionist entity" on the Palestinian prisoners. The writing on the right side of the prisoners' chest means The Israel Prison Service (Hebrew: שירות בתי הסוהר‎, commonly known in Israel by its acronym Shabas or IPS in English).

Monday is the International Day of Action for Palestinian Prisoners Hunger strike called for by the General Federation of Independent Trade Unions in Palestine.

The text, circulated internationally in a number of language reads that the Federation "calls upon all Palestinians and those in solidarity with their cause throughout the world. It asks them to "stop whatever they are doing for 10 minutes at 12 am Jerusalem time (9am GMT) on Monday, May 14th, 2012, On the Twenty-Eighth Day of the Open Ended Hunger Strike of Palestinian Prisoners in Israeli Jails, leave their homes, cars, and workplaces and take a collective stand in solidarity with the ongoing Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike."

One in three of the 4,800 Palestinians serving time in Israeli jails began refusing food on April 17 in protest against detention without trial and to demand better conditions such as family visits and ending solitary confinement.