The Palestine Currency Board: Its History and Currency

When the British defeated the Ottoman Turks and the armistice was signed on October 31, 1918, Palestine, part of the defeated Ottoman Empire, was administratively divided into the Mutasarrifate (a sub province) of Jerusalem and the Vilayets (a major administrative district or province) of Beirut and Damascus. Palestine was then governed by the British, first as a military occupation, and then as a Mandate granted to them as a Trust by the League of Nations. Prior to 1927, Palestine had no currency that was solely its own, but rather coins and banknotes of many other countries that were used in Palestine. These were mostly those of Turkey, Egypt, France, Great Britain, India, Germany, Russia, Austria, and the United States. The author of this working paper traces the need for a Palestine currency and the formation of the Palestine Currency Board, which remained in effect until March 31, 1952, nearly four years after the State of Israel was established on May 14, 1948. Parts of this working paper was adapted from the author’s book: The Coins and Banknotes of Palestine Under the British Mandate, 1927-1947, McFarland & Company, Inc. (2001) and is built on the writings of numismatic researchers Jack H. Fisher, Esq. (deceased) and Raphael Dabbah, both of whom the author has had the pleasure of knowing for many years. Where verbatim passages are taken from British sources, the British spellings have been retained. Unless credited otherwise, all images of coins and currency notes were from the author’s collection.