The Palestine pound or Palestine lira ( []; or לירה ארץ-ישראלית or לירה פלשתינאית ; symbol: £P),As depicted on a revenue stamp issued under the Mandate.As depicted on a Barclays cheque 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.Egyptian Expeditionary Force, The Palestine News, March 7, 1918, p2. Turkish coins but not Turkish notes were legal. In January, a resident of Jerusalem was sentenced to 3 months' hard labour for selling a French Napoleon for 92.5 piastres instead of the regulation 77.15 piastres.Egyptian Expeditionary Force, A Guide-Book to Central Palestine, August 1918, p106. 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.Official Gazette of the Government of Palestine, No. 36, 1 February 1921, p13.
In 1926, the British Secretary of State for the Colonies appointed a Palestine Currency Board to introduce a local currency.Official Gazette of the Government of Palestine, No. 170, 1 September 1926, pp447–449. 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.Official Gazette of the Government of Palestine, No. 182, 1 March 1927, pp131–134. The £P1 gold coin would contain 123.27447 grains of standard gold. The enabling legislation was the (SR&O 1927/91), signed by the king in February 1927.Official Gazette of the Government of Palestine, No. 193, 16 August 1927, pp590–592. The Palestine pound became legal tender on 1 November 1927.Official Gazette of the Government of Palestine, No. 196, 1 October 1927, p679. The Egyptian pound (at the fixed rate of £P1 = £E0.975) and the British gold sovereign remained legal tender until 1 March 1928.Official Gazette of the Government of Palestine, No. 205, 16 February 1928, p94, and No. 206, 1 March 1928, p114.
The Palestine Currency Order 1927 explicitly excluded Transjordan from its application, but the Government of Transjordan decided to adopt the Palestine pound at the same time as Palestine did.Palestine Currency Board, Report for the period ending 1st March 1928 The Egyptian pound remained legal tender in Transjordan until 1930.
All the denominations were trilingual in Arabic, English and Hebrew.
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:
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.Annex IV - Protocol on Economic Relations between the Government of the State of Israel and the P.L.O., representing the Palestinian people. Israel MFA, 29 April 1994 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, 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 CoinageIssued by the Palestine currency Board Image Value Technical parameters Description Date of first issueDated 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 19271927, 1935, 1937, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1946 2 mils 28 mm 7.77 g1927, 1941, 1942, 1945, 1946 5 mils 20 mm 2.91 g Cupro-nickel Value in Arabic, English, and Hebrew1927, 1934, 1935, 1939, 1941, 19465 mils20 mm2.9Bronze19421942, 1944 10 mils 27 mm 6.47 gCupro-nickel19271927, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 194610 mils27 mm6.47Bronze19421942, 1943 20 mils 30.5 mm 11.33 gCupro-nickel19271927, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1940, 194120 mils30.5 mm11.3Bronze19421942, 1944 50 mils 23.6 mm 5.83 g 720‰ Silver Reeded "Palestine" in Arabic, English, and Hebrew,year of minting, olive sprig.19271927, 1931, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1939, 1940, 1942, 1943 100 mils 29 mm 11.66 gIssued by the State of IsraelImageValueTechnical parametersDescriptionDate of first issueDated years of issueDiameterMassCompositionEdgeObverseReverse1 pruta21 mm1.3 gAluminumPlainAnchor; "Israel" in Hebrew and Arabic.
The design is based on a coin of Alexander Jannaeus ().The denomination "1 Pruta" and the date in Hebrew; two stylized olive branches around the rim.25 October 19505709 (1949)5 pruta20 mm3.2 gBronzeFour-stringed lyre; "Israel" in Hebrew and Arabic.
The design is based on a coin from the Bar-Kochba Revolt (132–135 CE).The denomination "5 Pruta" and the date in Hebrew; two stylized olive branches around the rim.28 December 195010 pruta27 mm6.1gTwo-handled amphora; "Israel" in Hebrew and Arabic.
The design is based on a coin from the Bar-Kochba Revolt (132–135 CE).The denomination "10 Pruta" and the date in Hebrew; two stylized olive branches around the rim.4 January 195025 mil30 mm3.8 gAluminumCluster 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 19495708 (1948), 5709 (1949)25 pruta19.5 mm2.8 gCupro-nickelReededValue and date in Hebrew within wreath.4 January 19505709 (1949)50 pruta23.5 mm5.69 g Branch of grape leaves.Value and date within wreath made up of two stylized olive branches that for a circle around perimeter.11 May 1949100 pruta28.5 mm11.3 gDate 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 1949250 pruta32.2 mm14.1 gThree wheat stalks; "Israel" in Hebrew and Arabic.
The design is based on a coin minted during the Great Jewish Revolt (66–73/74 CE).The denomination "250 Pruta" and the date in Hebrew; two stylized olive branches around the rim.11 October 1950
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 BanknotesIssued by the Palestine currency Board Image Value DimensionsPalestine Gazette, March 1, 1927, p134 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 19271,872,811 £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)ImageValueDimensionsMain ColourDescriptionDate of ObverseReverseObverseReverseIssueCeased to be legal tender500 mils148 x 72 mmGrey-pinkGuilloches; 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 194823 June 1952£P1100 x 75 mmBlue-green£P5105 x 68 mmBrown£P10150 x 80 mmRed£P50159 x 84 mmViolet
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.Palestine Currency Board, Statement of Coins and Notes in Circulation at the 31st December, 1947. The Palestine Gazette No. 1644, January 29, 1948, p. 72.
See also British currency in the Middle East Economy of Israel Economy of the Palestinian territories Economy of Jordan
References
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.
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