Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Two years ago, an English journalist called his friend in the Gaza Strip, inquiring from him about the Palestinian currency so that he could exchange his country’s currency, the pound sterling, as he was planning to visit the Strip in a few days, but he was surprised when he learned that there was no Palestinian currency, but rather an Israeli currency imposed by the occupation on the Palestinians since the mid-eighties. the last century.
This contact inspired graphic designer Jihad Naji, 29, to design a Palestinian currency, like other national currencies around the world, and to be a reflection of the culture and identity of Palestine throughout history.
Jihad began researching and collecting information about the Palestinian pound, which was imposed by the British Mandate on Palestine and Egypt, and its circulation ended after the catastrophe of 1948, and the Gaza Strip became the Egyptian pound, and the West Bank the Jordanian dinar, after which the Israeli currency - the new shekel - was fixed in all Palestinian lands.
"Through research, I discovered that the original currency of Palestine is the Canaanite currency, which was also called the shekel, but through my project I wanted to revive the currency that our ancestors used to deal with, while my work is an artistic project that focuses on the modern and contemporary history of Palestine," said Jihad.
He continued to search for thirteen months, but the most problem he faced during the research was the large number of influential Palestinian figures throughout history, and his keenness not to neglect any influential figure, but in the end it was necessary to select a number of archaeological figures and places.
"I chose several personalities and archaeological places, even the most prominent of them on the Palestinian currency, the first of which is the symbol, the martyr Yasser Arafat and Abdel Qader Al-Husseini, and among the poets and writers Fadwa Touqan, Mahmoud Darwish, Ghassan Kanafani and Edward Said, and the cartoonist Naji Al-Ali, as these are among the most prominent who represented the Palestinian cultural scene throughout history." Nagy added.
Among the cultural landmarks that Jihad highlighted was the "Victory Cinema" in the Gaza Strip, which turned into a "ruin" 24 years ago. Gaza City, and the mayor of the city at the time, Hajj Rashad al-Shawa, imported special equipment and high capabilities for it, and he supervised the import of films for it from Egypt.
During his work on preparing the project, the problem of power outages for several hours was one of the biggest obstacles he faced, which caused him to lose a job that lasted for several hours, and later had to restart it again.
Jihad hopes that his project will be approved in the Palestinian Archive, and that it will be a serious proposal in the event that a decision is made to adopt a Palestinian currency. He also aims to show the Palestinian identity internally and externally, and to participate in international exhibitions, but he faces a problem of being banned from traveling, just like hundreds of young men in the Gaza Strip. .
He said, "The creative youth in the Gaza Strip are isolated from the world, and they face great difficulty in spreading their talents. For two years I have been trying to leave the Strip in order to complete my master's studies, but I always face the problem of a travel ban."
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