They Are Flipping Us A Coin

The fiscal news from the 'other side':-

Since the creation of Israel in 1948, Palestinians have mainly used the Israeli shekel for commerce. Now they're quietly considering reissuing the defunct Palestine pound, an example of which is displayed in a museum-like Lucite case outside Wazir's office, alongside coins from the time of Alexander the Great.

My text deconstruction:

A) "since...1948...Pals. have mainly used the Israeli shekel"


1. Since 1948, the Arabs within Israel's borders are Israelis.
2. Mainly? You mean in Jordan, Lebanon and other states the Arabs-who-refer-to-themselves-as-Palestinians live use the shekel too?
3. Up until 1980, all Israelis, Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druse and tourists actually used the Lira. Between 1980-1985, there was the "Old Sheqel" and since then, the "New Israel Sheqel (NIS)".

B) "the defunct Palestine pound...displayed in a museum-like Lucite case...alongside coins from the time of Alexander the Great."

1. Since you might think that the sheqel is somehow new, please be advised that the Israel sheqel coin was used by the United Monarchy of Israel (that existed in the Land of Israel from c. 1020 BC to c. 930 BC, though there are differences of opinion as to exact dates) and the Kingdom of Israel (that existed roughly from the 930s BCE until about the 720s BCE), as well as during the Great Revolt (66–70 CE).
2. In fact, lots of coins like the sheqel and sela have been found recently (see here too as well as here)
3. There were no Arabs in this country at the time of Alexander the Great.

By the way, the coinage during the Mandate period, when the so-called "Palestinian identity" developed was based on the Egyptian Pound. As we know:

In 1834, a Royal Decree promulgating a Parliamentary Bill was issued providing for the issuing of an Egyptian currency based on a bimetallic base. The Egyptian pound was introduced, replacing the Egyptian piastre as the chief unit of currency...At the outbreak of World War I, the Egyptian pound was pegged to the British pound sterling at EGP 0.975 per GBP 1.00.

and the coinage was:

Between 1834 and 1836, para...and piastre...and 1 pound coins were introduced...In 1885, a new coinage was introduced consisting of bronze...millieme...In 1924, bronze replaced cupro-nickel in the 1 millieme coin and the holes were removed from the other cupro-nickel coins. In 1938, bronze 5 and 10 millieme coins were introduced, followed in 1944 by silver, hexagonal 2 piastre coins.

During the Mandate, there was

The Palestine pound (Arabic: جُنَيْه فِلَسْطَينِيّ‎, junyah filastini: Hebrew: פֿוּנְט פַּלֶשְׂתִינָאִי א"י))‎ funt palestina'i (erets-yisra'eli)) was the currency of the British Mandate of Palestine between 1927 and 1948. It was divided into 1000 mils (Arabic: Arabic: مِل‎, Hebrew: Hebrew: מִיל‎). The Palestine pound was also the currency of Transjordan until 1949 and the West Bank until 1950...Following the establishment of the British mandate of Palestine, the Egyptian pound also circulated alongside the Turkish money until 1927. This created an unsatisfactory situation which required a currency reform. The Palestine pound was introduced, equal in value to the pound sterling. The Palestine pound was also declared a legal tender in the Transjordan Emirate

But, we should recall, "Palestine" then meant the Jewish National Home.

To conclude: they are pounding us silly.