In Pictures: What If Palestine Had Its Own Currency?

Palestinians have been without their own currency for more than six decades. Now one designer wants to change that, and in doing so, keeps the debate on the Palestinian currency alive.

Designer Jehad Naji, 29, pictured here with his wife Haneen Abu Samhadana, had the idea of designing a currency for Palestine after a British journalist asked him about which currency to use during a visit to Gaza. Naji had to explain to him that there was none and that Palestinians have to use the Israeli shekel.

“People living outside Palestine have no clue that being occupied means that you do not get to decide even on your own currency,” Naji says. Above, his design for the front of the five-pound note shows the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

Naji says the hardest part was choosing which Palestinian figures and landmarks to use. The back of the five-pound note features Abdul