Palestinian pound to start circulating in West Bank schools
The Palestinian Education Ministry launched an initiative to issue Palestinian pounds to be used in schools, in an attempt to introduce students to their national currency, which has been off the market since the end of the British Mandate in 1948.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Hamza Abdul Hadi Jawabra, a 15-year-old student, does not know what the Palestinian pound is. He said that he only knows the shekel because he gets his daily allowance in Israeli shekels, and he sees his parents holding Jordanian dinars and US dollars. His father, who works as a public affairs officer at An-Najah University in Nablus, gets his salary in dinars, while his mother who works at Al-Mada press in Ramallah is paid in dollars.
Jawabra was surprised to find out when talking to Al-Monitor that there is a Palestinian pound and he asked spontaneously, “How does it look?” He said he would be happier getting his allowance in Palestinian pounds.
Jawabra, like other Palestinian students, knows nothing about the only known Palestinian currency in history — the Palestinian pound issued during the British Mandate (1927-1948).
The Ministry of Education and Higher Education, however, is starting an initiative to introduce children to the Palestinian pound, allowing them to use it to purchase food in school cafeterias.
