2016-05-03 Tue

The 1936-1939 Arab Revolt in Palestine left mass devastation in its wake. The revolt was harshly suppressed by the British military and police forces. Many Arab children were orphaned and there was a critical need to educate and provide job training and vocational opportunities for a large segment of Palestinian population.

A charitable society known as the Arab Orphans Committee was established in Haifa for betterment and fundraising.

In 1947, The Hashemite King Abdullah I along with NGO Arab Orphans Committee issued lottery tickets as a way of fundraising. These Jordanian issued lottery tickets /notes had similar dimensions as the Palestine one pound note and also had the Palestinian monetary denomination of ‘500 Mil’. These lottery tickets have a very significant historical factor as they these were the Jordanian issues in Palestinian mil.

The proceeds from the sale of these tickets were to be used for the development of a modern vocational trade school for the Arab orphans. The obverse of this 1947, 500 mil note depicts two scenes of young boys working and the reverse has the details and guidelines to reveal the lottery winners and instructions for dispatching the prizes.