Palestine pound
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The Palestine pound or Palestine lira (Arabic: جُنَيْه فِلَسْطَينِيّ [junayh filastini]; Hebrew: פונט פלשתינאי [funt' palestinā'iy] or לירה פלשתינאית [lira palestināy'it]; symbol: £P), was the currency of the British Mandate of Palestine from 1 November 1927 to 14 May 1948, and of the State of Israel between 15 May 1948 and 23 June 1952, until it was replaced with the Israeli pound.
The Palestine pound was also the currency of Transjordan until 1949 when it was replaced by the Jordanian dinar, and remained in usage in the West Bank of Jordan until 1950. In the Gaza Strip, the Palestine pound continued to circulate until April 1951, when it was replaced back with the Egyptian pound.
History
Until 1918, Palestine was an integral part of the Ottoman Empire and therefore used its currency, the Ottoman lira. During 1917 and 1918, Palestine was occupied by the British army, who set up a military administration. The official currency was the Egyptian pound, which had been first introduced into Egypt in 1834, but several other currencies were legal tender at fixed exchange rates that were vigorously enforced. After the establishment of a civil administration in 1921, the High Commissioner Herbert Samuel ordered that from 22 January 1921 only Egyptian currency and the British gold sovereign would be legal tender.
In 1926, the British Secretary of State for the Colonies appointed a Palestine Currency Board to introduce a local currency. It was based in London and chaired by Percy G. Ezechiel, with a Currency Officer resident in Palestine. The board decided that the new currency would be called the Palestine pound, 1:1 with sterling and divided into 1,000 mils. The £P1 gold coin would contain 123.27447 grains of standard gold. The enabling legislation was the Palestine Currency Order, 1927, signed by the King in February 1927. The Palestine pound became legal tender on 1 November 1927. The Egyptian pound (at the fixed rate of £P1 = £E0.975) and the British gold sovereign remained legal tender until 1 March 1928.
The Palestine Currency Order explicitly excluded Transjordan from its application, but the Government of Transjordan decided to adopt the Palestine pound at the same time as Palestine did. The Egyptian pound remained legal tender in Transjordan until 1930.
All the denominations were trilingual in Arabic, English and Hebrew.
It so happened that the new Palestinian currency was released, which was a great ordeal. The Palestinian currency which was coined especially for Palestine, and issued both in banknotes and coins, had the phrase “the land of Israel” written on it in Hebrew. Despite this hint, we accepted it, and the Arabs of Palestine dealt in it in what was almost an acknowledgment that Palestine was the land of Israel.
— Wasif Jawhariyyeh, The Storyteller of Jerusalem, page 698
The Currency Board was dissolved in May 1948, with the end of the British Mandate, but the Palestinian pound continued in circulation for transitional periods:[citation needed]
- Israel adopted the Israeli lira in 1952. In August 1948, new banknotes were issued by the Anglo-Palestine Bank, owned by the Jewish Agency and based in London.
- Jordan adopted the Jordanian dinar in 1949.
- In the West Bank, the Palestine pound continued to circulate until 1950, when the West Bank was annexed by Jordan, and the Jordanian dinar became legal tender there. The Jordanian dinar is still legal tender in the West Bank along with the Israeli shekel.
- In the Gaza Strip, the Palestine pound continued to circulate until April 1951, when it was replaced by the Egyptian pound, three years after the Egyptian army took control of the territory.
Since the mid-1980s, the primary currencies used in the West Bank have been the shekel and the Jordanian dinar. The shekel is used for most transactions, especially retail, while the dinar is used more for savings and durable goods transactions. The US dollar is also sometimes used for savings and for purchasing foreign goods. The dollar is used by the overwhelming majority of transactions overseen by the Palestinian Monetary Authority (Palestine's nascent central bank), which only represent a fraction of all transactions conducted in Palestine or by Palestinians.
The shekel is the main currency in Gaza. Under Egyptian rule (1948–1956), Gaza mainly used the Egyptian pound. When Israel occupied the Gaza Strip during the 1956 Suez Crisis, the military administration made the Israeli lira (the predecessor to the shekel) the only legal currency in Gaza in a 3 December decree, and implemented a favorable exchange rate to remove all Egyptian pounds from circulation. As a result, the lira and then the shekel became the dominant currency in Gaza, a situation that was reinforced in 1967 by the Israeli occupation of Gaza following the Six-Day War.
Under Article IV of the Protocol on Economic Relations, the Palestinians are not allowed to independently introduce a separate Palestinian currency. At the same time, the use of two currencies has the potential to increase the costs and inconvenience arising from fluctuating exchange rates.
Coins
In 1927,[citation needed] coins were introduced in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 mils. The 1 and 2 mil were struck in bronze, whilst the 5, 10 and 20 mil were holed, cupro-nickel coins, except for during World War II, when they were also minted in bronze. The coin of 10 mils was also called a grush. The 50 and 100 mil coins were struck in .720 silver.
The last coins were issued for circulation in 1946, with all 1947 dated coins being melted down.
| Palestine pound Coinage | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issued by the Palestine currency Board | |||||||||
| Image | Value | Technical parameters | Description | Date of first issue | Dated years of issue | ||||
| Diameter | Mass | Composition | Edge | Obverse | Reverse | ||||
| 1 mil | 21 mm | 3.23 g | Bronze | Plain | "Palestine" in Arabic, English, and Hebrew, year of minting. | Value in Arabic, English, and Hebrew, olive sprig | 1927 | 1927, 1935, 1937, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1946 | |
| 2 mils | 28 mm | 7.77 g | 1927, 1941, 1942, 1945, 1946 | ||||||
| 5 mils | 20 mm | 2.91 g | Cupro-nickel | Value in Arabic, English, and Hebrew | 1927, 1934, 1935, 1939, 1941, 1946 | ||||
| 5 mils | 20 mm | 2.9 | Bronze | 1942 | 1942, 1944 | ||||
| 10 mils | 27 mm | 6.47 g | Cupro-nickel | 1927 | 1927, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1946 | ||||
| 10 mils | 27 mm | 6.47 | Bronze | 1942 | 1942, 1943 | ||||
| 20 mils | 30.5 mm | 11.33 g | Cupro-nickel | 1927 | 1927, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1940, 1941 | ||||
| 20 mils | 30.5 mm | 11.3 | Bronze | 1942 | 1942, 1944 | ||||
| 50 mils | 23.6 mm | 5.83 g | 720‰ Silver | Reeded | "Palestine" in Arabic, English, and Hebrew, year of minting, olive sprig. | 1927 | 1927, 1931, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1939, 1940, 1942, 1943 | ||
| 100 mils | 29 mm | 11.66 g | |||||||
| Issued by the State of Israel | |||||||||
| Image | Value | Technical parameters | Description | Date of first issue | Dated years of issue | ||||
| Diameter | Mass | Composition | Edge | Obverse | Reverse | ||||
| 1 pruta | 21 mm | 1.3 g | Aluminum | Plain | Anchor; "Israel" in Hebrew and Arabic. The design is based on a coin of Alexander Jannaeus (76-103 BCE). | The denomination "1 Pruta" and the date in Hebrew; two stylized olive branches around the rim. | 25 October 1950 | 5709 (1949) | |
| 5 pruta | 20 mm | 3.2 g | Bronze | Four-stringed lyre; "Israel" in Hebrew and Arabic. The design is based on a coin from the Bar-Kochba Revolt (132-135CE). | The denomination "5 Pruta" and the date in Hebrew; two stylized olive branches around the rim. | 28 December 1950 | |||
| 10 pruta | 27 mm | 6.1g | Two-handled amphora; "Israel" in Hebrew and Arabic. The design is based on a coin from the Bar-Kochba Revolt (132-135CE). | The denomination "10 Pruta" and the date in Hebrew; two stylized olive branches around the rim. | 4 January 1950 | ||||
| 25 mil | 30 mm | 3.8 g | Aluminum | Cluster of grapes, based on coins struck during the Bar-Kochba Revolt (132-135 CE); "Israel" in Hebrew above and in Arabic below. | The denomination "25 Mil" in Hebrew and Arabic; date in Hebrew below; two stylized olive branches around, based on coins struck during the Bar-Kochba Revolt (132-135 CE). | 6 April 1949 | 5708 (1948), 5709 (1949) | ||
| 25 pruta | 19.5 mm | 2.8 g | Cupro-nickel | Reeded | Value and date in Hebrew within wreath. | 4 January 1950 | 5709 (1949) | ||
| 50 pruta | 23.5 mm | 5.69 g | A Branch of Grape Leaves. | Value and date within wreath made up of two stylized olive branches that for a circle around perimeter. | 11 May 1949 | ||||
| 100 pruta | 28.5 mm | 11.3 g | Date palm tree with seven branches and two bunches of dates. Country name is listed in Hebrew and Arabic. | Value and date in Hebrew within wreath of stylized olive branches. | 25 May 1949 | ||||
| 250 pruta | 32.2 mm | 14.1 g | Three palm branches; "Israel" in Hebrew and Arabic. The design is based on a coin minted during the Great Revolt (66 - 70 CE). | The denomination "250 Pruta" and the date in Hebrew; two stylized olive branches around the rim. | 11 October 1950 | ||||
| These images are to scale at 2.5 pixels per millimetre. For table standards, see the coin specification table. |
Banknotes
On 1 November 1927, banknotes were introduced by the Palestine Currency Board in denominations of 500 mils, £P1, £P5, £P10, £P50 and £P100. Notes were issued with dates as late as 15 August 1945.
| Palestine pound Banknotes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issued by the Palestine currency Board | |||||||||
| Image | Value | Dimensions | Main Colour | Description | Date of first issue | Quantity circulated at the end of the Mandate | |||
| Obverse | Reverse | Obverse | Reverse | Watermark | |||||
| 500 mils | 127 × 76 mm | Purple | Rachel's Tomb | Citadel and Tower of David | Olive sprig | 1 September 1927 | 1,872,811 | ||
| £P1 | 166 × 89 mm | Yellowish green | Dome of the Rock | 9,413,578 | |||||
| £P5 | 191 × 102 mm | Red | Tower of Ramla | 3,909,230 | |||||
| £P10 | Blue | 2,004,128 | |||||||
| £P50 | Purple | 20,577 | |||||||
| £P100 | Green | 1,587 | |||||||
| "Palestine" in Arabic, English. | |||||||||
| Issued by the Anglo-Palestine Bank (State of Israel) | |||||||||
| Image | Value | Dimensions | Main Colour | Description | Date of | ||||
| Obverse | Reverse | Obverse | Reverse | Issue | Ceased to be legal tender | ||||
| 500 mils | 148 x 72 mm | Grey-pink | Guilloches; the denomination and "The Anglo-Palestine Bank Limited" in Hebrew and English. | Guilloches; the denomination and "The Anglo-Palestine Bank Limited" in Arabic and English. | 18 August 1948 | 23 June 1952 | |||
| £P1 | 100 x 75 mm | Blue-green | |||||||
| £P5 | 105 x 68 mm | Brown | |||||||
| £P10 | 150 x 80 mm | Red | |||||||
| £P50 | 159 x 84 mm | Violet |
The £P100 note was equivalent to 40 months’ wages of a skilled worker in Palestine. At the end of 1947, five months before the end of the British Mandate, there were 1,590 £P100 notes in circulation, out of a total circulation of £P40.6 million in notes and £P1.5 million in coins.
See also
- British currency in the Middle East
- Economy of Israel
- Economy of the Palestinian territories
- Economy of Jordan
- Krause, Chester L.; Clifford Mishler (1991). Standard Catalog of World Coins: 1801–1991 (18th ed.). Krause Publications. ISBN 0873411501.
- Pick, Albert (1994). Bruce, Colin R. II; Shafer, Neil (eds.). Standard Catalog of World Paper Money: General Issues (7th ed.). Krause Publications. ISBN 0-87341-207-9.
- Berlin, Howard (2005). The Coins And Banknotes of Palestine Under the British Mandate, 1927-1947. McFarland & Company. ISBN 0-7864-2445-1.
- Memorandum relating to currency arrangements. In: Official Gazette of the Government of Palestine, 9. 1927, no. 182 (1.03.1927), pp. 131–134.
- Currency Notes Ordinance 1927. In: Official Gazette of the Government of Palestine, 9. 1927, no. 184 (1.04.1927), pp. 249–252.
- Palestine Currency Order 1927. In: Official Gazette of the Government of Palestine, 9. 1927, no. 193 (16.08.1927), pp. 590–592.
- Notice: Palestine Currency. In: Official Gazette of the Government of Palestine, 9. 1927, no. 197 (16.10.1927), pp. 726–727.