Hind Rajab Little Library launched in Menhakwesk

On September 11, Palestine solidarity groups launched the Hind Rajab Little Library at the University of New Brunswick in Menahkwesk (Saint John). The library is dedicated to the memory of Hind Rajab, who would have attended elementary school this year. Five-year-old Hind was murdered by Israeli forces on January 29, 2024.

The story of Hind Rajab represents one example of the brutality of ongoing genocide and the unimaginable violence against children.

Israeli forces have killed or disabled more than 64,000 children, leaving thousands of children with permanent disabilities and emotional trauma that might be impossible to assess or heal. 

A recent report from the United Nations has highlighted Israel’s policy of deliberately targeting children, including the destruction of neonatal and maternity centres, orphanages and educational spaces, as part of their ethnic cleaning campaign in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories. 

The library is a project of the Palestine Solidarity Committee of Saint John (PSCSJ) and Labour for Palestine (L4P). The groups gifted the first little library dedicated to Palestinian children killed during the ongoing genocide to the Olive Grove. The Olive Grove is a new ethno-cultural space on Saint John’s Waterloo Street.

The launch was held on the last day of the Say Their Names Vigil, where community members read out the names of Gazan children killed since October 2023 over five days. At the launch, the library was represented by a shelf of children’s books, decorated with cartoon characters and Palestinian symbols – watermelons, olives, and poppies. The roof was painted in a Keffiyeh pattern.   

Everyone is welcome to read, take or donate books and small toys to the library. The library provides access to literature for the children and youth of Waterloo village, a neighborhood affected by structural violence, manifesting as poverty, homelessness and addiction. New Brunswick’s Child and Youth Advocate recently called out the province for failing at-risk youth by turning them away too quickly from services meant to support them. 

The library team hopes to continue installing libraries for Gazan children in other locations and welcomes contributions from community members and organizations to cover costs. The project is meant to recognize more than 21,000 Palestinian children in Gaza and hundreds of children in the West Bank who have been killed by the Israeli military occupation and by Zionist settlers.

Andri Yadi is a member of Labour for Palestine, Menahkwesk. Nomaan X works with the Saint John Community Coalition