One Palestinian Pound, originally uploaded by malyousif.
I visited my sister Maha’s workplace (Palace Enterprises) this morning and had the good fortune to also visit one of the owners of the company, Waleed Al-Rayyis, who is an avid currency collector and a pleasure to talk to. One of the rare notes he’s got in the collection is this Palestinian Pound.
If you look closely, you will notice that it has Arabic, Hebrew and English text. It is also quite clear that there is no mention of “Israel” on it, which leads me to believe that it must have been prior to 1948, and is a clear indication of several factors:
1. Both Palestinians and Jews resided in Palestine.
2. Jews were an important section of the constitution of Palestine’s citizenry.
3. Palestinians had the upper hand, ie, they ruled at that time.
4. Britain recognised that fact, hence “The Anglo-Palestine Bank Limited” printing these notes, rather than “Anglo-Israeli” which obviously at the time did not exist.
It’s interesting how a single currency note can have that much history isn’t it?
Comments
Mahmood, I noticed that it mentioned Tel-Aviv, which presumebly was only named after the state of Isreal was established.
In addition, it seems to me that its not a currency note but a note that works more or less like a travellers cheque? Reference: “Will pay to the bearer.”
BTW How old is this note? Do you know?
I too collect currency and have a lot of coins from Iraq pre-Saddam. India pre-independence. USSR pre-break-up… etc.
Grace, I’m not a currency expert, but the “will pay to the bearer” actually appears on a lot of currency notes, even US Dollars, so it’s a standard text I think.
I don’t know any of the history attached to this note, mine are pure assumptions which I would be happy for someone more knowledgeable to correct or confirm.
Having Tel-Aviv does raise a legitimate question though. Could it be that there were several currency printing banks when this was printed and it happens to be of the “Anglo-Palestine Bank” issued after 1948?
Interesting quest isn’t it?!
And people’s capacity to ignore facts for personal gain is also quite amazing.
In my dad’s hometown, Nablus, there is a population of Palestinian Jews who have refused the Israeli citizenship and who are very proud of being Palestinian. They have been settled there alongside the Christian and Muslim Palestinians for centuries.
The question of creating a central bank, or as it was called, the State Bank, was discussed in the Ministry of Finance in 1948, immediately after the establishment of the State of Israel. The matter was shelved due to the pressure of events, but an immediate solution was required to the problem of issuing a currency for the young State. Thus the Bank Notes Ordinance, 5708-1948 was introduced, becoming effective on August 17, 1948. The ordinance defined the authority to issue banknotes in a charter between the government and the Anglo-Palestine Bank, later Bank Leumi Le-Israel B.M. Under the terms of the charter, the Anglo-Palestine Bank set up a special department, the Issue Department, whose task was to issue banknotes. At the same time, the Bank also formed a department to manage State loans.
The process of replacing the notes of the Israel Currency Council with those of the Anglo-Palestine Bank began immediately after the Bank Notes Ordinance went into effect and the charter was signed, and was completed by the end of October 1948.
Source: http://www.bankisrael.gov.il/abeng/1-1eng.htm
I guess that answers our question 🙂
Yes – that note we’re looking at was issued on August 18, 1948.
Why ‘Palestine Pound’?
When the banknotes were ordered, no one yet knew what the name of the new state would be, let alone its currency. Also, it was clear that no reputable foreign firm would print money for a non existent state. It was therefore decided to print “Palestine Pound” on the notes, the currency of the mandate.
The banknotes reached this Palestine/Israel secretly in July 1948. On August 17 the government passed a law declaring the notes legal tender, and they were put into circulation on the following day.
Click here for further nostalgia: http://members.tripod.com/~lenapedata/NotesBySeries.htm
Look at the ink on the very bottom of this scanned note and you’ll notice 1948-1951 written!
Bank Leumi is an Israeli bank.
Bank Leumi was founded in London as the Anglo Palestine Company on February 27, 1902. It was founded by members of the Zionist movement to grow the industry, construction, agriculture, and infrastructure of Israel. It was envisioned by Dr. Theodore Herzl. The bank opened its first branch in Jaffa, and soon expanded to other cities in the region, despite the opposition of the Ottoman government. The bank was based in London until 1950, when it was refounded as Bank Leumi in Israel. It served as the central bank of Israel until 1954, when it became a commercial bank. The bank was nationalized in 1983, as a result of the Bank Stock Crisis.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_Leumi
None of those displayed on the website mentioned by na9rawi look like the one shown above.
Perhaps this one is an earlier version?
I know Leumi is Israeli. It’s branch office is a 2 minute walk from where I’m typing now. It’s why I store my money in the freezer.
Clickk this link to find the photo you’re looking for:
http://members.tripod.com/~lenapedata/NoteDescriptions/P-015.htm
It mentions 2 names as well: S Hoofien and A Barth.
I’ve been trying to find the star of solomon within the design but haven’t found it yet.
I quote Mahmood “It’s interesting how a single currency note can have that much history isn’t it?”
so this note is quite valuable then!
the two signatures on the Hebrew side are Hebrew and are the signatures of Barth (it reads A. Bairt, on the left – he actually included the kametz, which is the vowel symbol of a, and a yod) and Hoofien (it reads Hofn).
Seems the note was more confusing than you think, and even distorted historical facts! The banknotes reached Palestine secretly in July 1948. It clearly shows that there was no Israel and proves it was a complete occupation of Palestine, they didn’t even have a name for their state to put it on the currency! Remember most of the jews that occupy Palestine now came from around the world, Palestine was under the ottoman rule and at that time the number of jews was unmentionable. And yes there was a Palestinian Pound before this fake one.
Anyway, the Israelis named their currencies Liras then came the old shekel and now the new shekel. (shekel was used in Mesopotamia around 3000 BC so even that is not Israeli)
This should shed some more light on the issue
http://www.drberlin.com/palestine/
Grace says “Mahmood, I noticed that it mentioned Tel-Aviv, which presumebly was only named after the state of Isreal was established.”
No, Tel Aviv was named in 1910, 38 years before the state of Israel was founded, and one year after Tel Aviv was founded. A short google would have told you that.
Also, the “×”×™” in the middle of the note stands for “×Âרץ ישר×Âל”, or “The land of Israel”. (“ליר׆הי ×Âחת” translates to “One Israeli Lira”) The name “Israel” was decided long before the actual founding of the state. It was not the official name of the place prior to 1948. Hence, it is not a recognition of superiority that caused the British to call it Palestine (though I’m not ruling out such an option, it’s just that this is not a symptom of it).
As others have noted, the “Anglo-Palestinian bank”, today “Leumi Bank”, existed long before 1948, which means it is not possible to know whether this note is from 1948 or before, though the assumption that it was printed after the state of Israel was founded, but before the bank of Israel took on the monopoly of printing the notes seems reasonable, being as it is that the link the anonymous gave shows a different design for pre-Israel notes. It means that this note was in circulation for extremely small amount of time, which probably makes it very rare.
Please note that the earlier notes also have writing in all three languages, and also denote the Hebrew abreviation as “×”×™”, though the Hebrew writing does clearly say “Palestine”.
I am a little amazed at your amazement that Jews lived in Israel pre-1948. Do you really think an invading fleet of refugess could have landed in a country and conquer it by force from scratch?
Shachar
The choice to name the new Jewish state as Israel, was not an easy decision and needed the casting vote of Ben Gurion to break the deadlock. Others wanted to name it Judah and Zion. After all the orginal Kingdom of Israel belonged to the 12 tribes. After Solomon the ten tribes of the north broke away and formed the Kindom of Israel and the 2 southern tribes, Judah and Benjamin, (from whom the royal lines came from) formed the Kingdom of Judah. Its the descendents of the Southern Kingdom who are the Jews. Even if we go by the biblical account they are only entitled to land set asside to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin and not the whole area of Israel.
Alfie, this is so intresting… Please tell me more….
According to my Aunt
Back then the term “Palestinian” was mostly used to reffer to the Jews of Palestine. The Arabs of Palestine liked to be called “Arabs” and an “Arab” would take being called a “Palestinian” as an insult (because that we be like calling them a “Jew” now).
>>>Palestinians had the upper hand, ie, they ruled at that time.
Before the British came, the land was ruled by the Turks, and most of it was considered part of Syria.
The Arabs living in the land did not (for the most parts) call themselves “Palestinians”, did not have a Palestinian national identity.
For some info about British mandate:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Mandate_of_Palestine
A superb presentation, well-researched account of the notes issued by the Palestine Currency Board can be found in:
http://www.palestinecurrency.com/
Alfie, your comment about Jews belonging only to Judah and Benjamin is incorrect.
For example, Cohanim (descendants of the Biblical priests) are present throughout the entire Jewish world. The Cohanim are a sub-group of the tribe of Levi, not the tribes of Benjamin and Judah. Being a Cohen is a trait passed down from father to son since Biblical times. And in fact it turns out that the Cohanim actually have an unusual genetic haplotype, called the Cohen Model Haplotype. Several African groups
Ethiopian Jews (“Beta Israel”) descendants of the tribe of Dan. There is strong evidence that they split off from the rest of the Jewish religion before the era of the Maccabim.
Indian Jews are believed to be descended from the tribe of Menashe, which is why they call themselves — naturally enough — “Bnei Menashe.”
Thanks for the info about the banknote, everyone. I have never seen one of these before. Interesting!
Grace, there is a really good book on the events that led to the formation of Israel and the conflict with the arabs, written by Domnique Lapierre and Larry collins, – Oh Jerusalem, the book is a good read and provides insight to everyday charcteres involved in the events inaddition to the big charcters who influenced the situation.
Howard, Levites were different from the other tribes of Isreal, they were considered the priestly clan, responsible for the religious activities through out the land. They were not assigned any land when Canaan was divided, only cities. Since the main temple was in Jerusalem, there were a large number of levites who stayed on after the kingdoms split up. So they too formed part of the Southern Kingdom of Judah.
The very name Jews comes from Judeans or people of Judah.
The other communities you mentioned are a minority that belonged to the northern kingdom and was taken away from the land, ‘the lost ten tribes’ of the northern kingdom of israel. Even today orthodox jews refuse to accept them as equals. They were brought in to change the demographics of the region.
The province of Judea was renamed to Palestina by the romans after the failed jewish rebellion. It was named after the Philistines, an ethnic group which by then had no distinct existence for several centuries. It is derived from the root P-L-SH which means means “to invade”. They obviously did not refer to themselves by that name.
The term “the bank of X will pay to the bearer” harks back to the time when money was backed by silver or gold. You could literally walk into a bank and redeem the banknote for metal.
The modern text should be something like “The state of X will allow you to pay your taxes with this piece of paper and will force your creditors to accept it as repayment of your debts. It will print as many copies of this piece of paper as it pleases without actually holding the equivalent amount of precious metal in its vaults”.
😆
Very true Oren! The same friend who has that note above, also has a US Dollar which has the phrase “In Silver” printed under the words “One Dollar”.
Let me see if I can get him to start a website and scan all of his collection because I think it is fascinating.
I think it would be great to create an online virtual collection, Mahmood, to which many people could contribute scanned images. Have him start a wiki. The virtual collection could be something like wikipedia. 🙂
or a Flickr pool!
Oren’s summary is just about as accurate as can be given in a few words here. While the Romans renaming of Judea to Palestina cought on in Europe, their renaming of Jerusalem at the same time to Aelia Capitolina did not. This may have had something to do with Christianity, which on the whole was less concerned with the country itself than with the holly city. Thus, changing the country’s name was less significant than attempting to change Jerusalem’s, which was met with more resistence.
Wherther this historical facts have anything to do with “the rights to the land” in the present (80 years) conflict, is a moot point. It all depends on how far back ones wishes to go in order to get to its “roots”.