Description
RARE - 1950 mail to Israel via Arab country: 17 May 1950 postmarked air mail cover on imprinted business postal stationary, sent from SHEFFIELD Britain to TEL AVIV & franked 6 pence, tied by local machine cancel; the cover was misrouted and subsequently machine backstamped 20 May 1950 BEIRUT transit. At this time until the present day there are no diplomatic relations between Lebanon and Israel, and Lebanon is a party to the postal boycott of Israel since 1948. Remarkably there are no further postal markings on the cover - no refusal of service or indications to send the cover back to the sender. Rather, there is only an Israeli censor label from TEL AVIV censor Tav 1025 & a 13 June 1950 office dater strike on the front: as such, from Lebanon the cover must have been included in a surface mail shipment, possibly via nearby Turkey, which eventually brought the cover to Israel. The cover may have been received at Haifa port but censorship since the Mandate era took place at the censor office closest to the intended address on the cover, so here TEL AVIV. Exceptionally rare postal history from the Arab-Israeli conflict.