Interim Period – 1948

Post Office Closings

In the more than 130 years of postal history of the Holy Land, as it also shows again that the Jewish people, in spite of chaos and adversity, found ways to maintain communications. The iron will to carry on has always been, and always will be, an integral part of Jewish heritage and history. The Palestine Mandate Administration requested that the U.N. Commission accept “physical and financial responsibility” for the continuation of mail services, both inland and abroad, on January 31, 1948. When no immediate reply was received, the officials of the Palestine Post Office stated that they had no alternative but to begin suspension of postal services.

In February, the British authorities informed the public, as well as the Universal Postal Union in Bern, Switzerland, that mail service from and to Palestine would be terminated in April. A notice to that effect was published by the UPU on March 5, 1948, notifying all members that the British Mandate Administration would not be responsible for parcels arriving after March 15, and surface mail arriving after April 15, 1948.

According to the Public Relations Officer at the General Post Office in Jerusalem, the suspension of incoming mail was necessitated by the fact that the British authorities did not want to be held responsible for any losses incurred in case of emergency. Air Mail service was to continue for as long as possible. On April 15, 1948, the following order was issued by the Palestine Post Office:

Schedule of closing of Mandatory Post offices

It was generally known that the British Mandate of Palestine would terminate on the 15th May, 1948, but instead of arranging a gradual take over of the Post Organization of the country by the new Jewish State, the Postmaster General at Jerusalem issued ;a directive on the 13th April, 1948, notifying the suspension of postal services, and the closing of Post Offices at facilities between 15th April and 5th May as listed :

Rural Postal Agencies 15th April
Rural Post Offices (except Lydda Airport) 30th April
Branch Post Offices and Town Postal Agencies
in the Urban Areas of Haifa, Jaffa,. Jerusalem and Tel Aviv 30th April
Head Post Offices (Haifa, Jaffa. Jerusalem and Tel Aviv) 5th May
Lydda. Airport Post Office 5th May

The reason given by the Postmaster General for his action was the absence of any communication from the United Nations Commission for Palestine providing for acceptance of responsibility for the continuance of Post Office services.

Nahariya

Nahariya to Haifa

Haifa to Nahariya

Nahariya Emergency Mail Stamp

Nahariya in the Western Galilee was cut off from Haifa by the Arabs on March 17, 1948. A British officer, the boyfriend of a Jewish girl, delivered a few letters to Haifa, none of which has been preserved. On March 22, 1948, a boat service from Nahariya to Haifa was begun by the cooperative group “Ogden”, who provided a motor launch. Three different crudely designed postmarks were used. On April 25, 1948, the Nahariya Municipal Council had three different postage stamps printed and released for sale for the prepayment of the Emergency Mail Boat forwarding fee. This fee was collected over and above that of the regular postage. This first issue was known as the Emergency POST issue, reflecting a rather poor English translation of the Hebrew caption. A slightly modified design of the same stamps was placed on sale together with a souvenir sheet on May 16, 1948, printed on cream colored paper. This issue is known as the Emergency MAIL issue, an improvement in the English translation. These were in use for 5 days, until May 21, 1948 when normal postal delivery by van was resumed.

A fee of 10 mils for incoming mail was charged as of April25, 1948, using the City Tax stamps, and when the supply of these became exhausted, the 11 mils City Tax stamp was used, but only 10 mils charged.

Rishon Le Zion Post

Rishon le Zion, a settlement founded in 1882 by Baron Edmond de Rothschild, is located about 12 miles South of Tel-Aviv.

A situation which can be compared to that of Nahariya developed there in the early part of March, 1948. Mail service with Tel-Aviv became most precarious and irregular. On March 28, 1948, the Town Council met and agreed to organize and operate a postal service between Rishon le Zion, Nachlat Jehuda, and Tel-Aviv. A special provisional stamp was issued by a special committee and the mail was transported by armored car starting on April 7, 1948, with the messenger using a different route every day for his trips to and from Tel-Aviv.

Zefat (Safad) Post

Safad

In Zefat (Safad or Safed), a town located on top of the hills guarding the approach to Lake Tiberias and the upper Jordan Valley, military rule was proclaimed by the Haganah Commander for the Town of Zefat, on April 18, 1948. The British Forces had received orders to evacuate on April 16, 1948, and the Arabs seized all public buildings, effectively isolating the Jewish population. The Post Office has been closed with the parting of the British, and there were no postage stamps or cancelers available.

After many discussions and trials, a very simple stamp was designed and printed on the cut-off fronts of envelopes. A postal entire was also printed. On May 6th, a circular postmark was introduced and being used until May 19, 1948. On May 19, 1948, the Minhelet Ha’am postmark reached Zefat, and it was not until June that the Doar Ivri stamps and State of Israel cancelers reached the town. The Zefat stamps and entire are the rarest of all Interim issues and very few postally used pieces of mail are known.

Afula, Tiberias & Nahalal Post

Afula Emergency Post Stamp

Tiberias Emergency Post Stamp

Nahalal Emergency Post Stamp

Mandate stamps were overprinted in Afula, Tiberias and Nahalal with the Hebrew word for EMERGENCY POST, but to date there is doubt that this issue was legitimately used in postal service. By the end of March, 1948, postal service became very irregular in, as well as to and from Jerusalem, and all private traffic from Jerusalem to the rest of the country came to a complete standstill.

JNF/KKL Label Stamps & Postmarks

Jerusalem Stamps

Interim Stamps With Overprints

Postal services became more precarious and finally stopped completely on April 25, 1948. The main road to Jerusalem was blocked by Arab mercenaries, convoys of medical personnel for the hospitals in Jerusalem were ambushed and everybody killed under the eyes and with full knowledge of the British authorities. By May 9, 1948, it was possible to get some mail through again, and local stamps, 3 issues, depicting the map of Palestine and overprinted, were used in Jerusalem as late as July 1948, as the first stamps of the new State of Israel did not arrive until the third week of July.

The British Mandate postal service in Tel-Aviv and Haifa ended officially on May 5, 1948.

The People’s administration Council, “Minhelet Ha’am”, decided to adopt an emergency measure to be uniformly observed until the first stamps of the State of Israel were issued. It authorized the use of Jewish National Fund “Keren Kayemet L’Israel”, commonly called “KKL” labels, which were available from the Jewish National Fund office in Palestine. These labels have been used since the beginning of the 20th century for fundraising purposes all over the world. The money raised was used to acquire land in Palestine for settlers and refugees from persecution.

These labels were validated for postal use by overprinting them with a rubber stamps “Doar”, the Hebrew word for Post, to be canceled with an all new Hebrew obliteration. There were two different overprints, one for Haifa and Kiriyat Motzkin with “Doar” in a circle, and a straight line “Doar” for Tel-Aviv and the other post offices. These overprinted, or rather, stamped, KKL labels were placed on sale on May 2, 1948, and remained on sale until May 16, 1948, when the first stamps of the State of Israel, known as “Doar Ivri”, Hebrew Post, were distributed and sold.

As the overprints on the KKL labels were done by students and older people with small rubber stamps, all kinds of varieties exist. The ink used was mostly black in Haifa, and purple and red in Tel-Aviv. The legitimate use of the Interim stamps was to have ended completely on May 23, 1948, but due to the chaotic conditions of the period, which resulted in delays in the supplying of all post offices with the Doar Ivri stamps, occasional much later use can be found. It was also impossible to supply all 80 postal agencies with the new State of Israel obliterates immediately, so that many post offices were advised to use the Minhelet Ha’am cancelers or simple rubber stamps. Consequently, either may appear on a piece of mail from that early period.

There is no definite information available as to why certain KKL labels were chosen for postal use, but common sense would tell us that those available in larger quantities were used. All in all, 80 postal agencies were in operation during the Interim’s Minhelet Ha’am period. Postal rates continued to be applied per previous regulations. When the British authorities closed down or abandoned the smaller post offices and postal agencies on April 15, 1948, the Jewish postal workers remained at their posts. Thus, the Jewish postal systems was effectively functioning in the smaller agencies, while the Mandate postal services were still operating in the large cities from mid-April to May 15, 1948.

End of the Interim Period

May 5 to 16, 19’48, saw the Jewish postal service as the only mail service operating in Palestine. When Israel proclaimed her independence on May 14, 1948, the postal service changed in name only; it had already been established. In view of the facts mentioned, although the Interim Period of 1948 officially lasted from May 1 to 15, 1948, the chaotic conditions in Palestine at the time actually caused it to last in effect from mid-March to early July 1948, depending on the location and circumstances.

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