A fortune that almost evaporated

Riad Abu Altin, 28, a resident of Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem, won approximately US $35,000 after having successfully guessed the results of 15 soccer games played by Toto, Israel's nationwide soccer games organizer.

But he almost missed the money because he never went to pick up his registered mail from the post office near his house. Riad never checks the Toto forms that he fills out and he had no reason this time to change his habit. Like many Palestinians, Riad believes that registered mail brings only fines or tax forms and therefore he never bothered to pick up the letter sent by registered mail to his home. He obviously did not notice the letter was sent by the Toto offices in Tel Aviv reporting his winnings.

The registered letter was returned to the Toto offices in Tel Aviv. An Israeli reporter heard of the story and decided to chase it up. He wrote in Yediot Ahronot on Thursday how he went and told Riad about his winnings. “The money fell on me from the sky. The first thing that I’m going to do is to go to France,” said the unemployed Riad, who lives with his wife and four children in the heart of the dense and filthy refugee camp.