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Coins issued by the British Mandate in Palestine between 1927 and 1947 were tri-lingual, carrying the name of the territory in English, Arabic and Hebrew.
To conform to the Balfour Declaration, two additional Hebrew letters were added in parentheses next to the Hebrew script on the coins. These letters, the aleph and yod, were an abbreviation for Eretz Yisra'el, "The Land of Israel." This infuriated the Arab citizens who rioted in protest. Orthodox Jews were also displeased with the text as they believed only the Messiah from the house of David could reestablish the historical Kingdom of Israel. These conflicts still rage on today.
Since both Arabic and Hebrew scripts are Semitic and read from right to left, the placing of the Arabic inscription on the right of all coins (or on top, where the inscription was in three rows) gave it precedence, which added further controversy. | 
