13) Service Suspended Mail (by belligerents)

1948 Egyptian seizure of Soviet mail to Jews in Palestine: 1 April 1948 postmarked surface mailed cover from ODESSA to HAIFA, franked 60 kop for the period 50 kop surface letter rate & tied by local postmark: this cover was mailed a week after Britain suspended surface mail to Palestine, on 25 March; here as not marked by British "no service" or "Return to Sender" instructional markings, possibly ...

1948 Egyptian seizure of mail to Jews in Palestine: 22 April 1948 postmarked surface mailed cover from British Zone of WEST BERLIN to HAIFA, franked 50Pf & tied by local postmark + opened/resealed by the British censor in Germany: this cover was mailed about a month after Britain suspended surface mail to Palestine (Germany's usual route); here as not marked by British "no service" or "Return to S...

1948 Egyptian seizure of mail to Israel: 24 APR 1948 airmail cover from BASEL to HAIFA, franked 70c & tied by strike of local postmark; dispatched 2 days before all airmail to Palestine got returned due to service suspensions: here transported via CAIRO, where since early April mail to Jews in Palestine was seized, censored & returned to sender, as done here - opened/resealed using K-type-A censor...

Rare wartime misdirected no-service mail from JORDAN: 6 Sept 1948 postmarked air mail cover, sent from AMMAN and addressed to female in "Florida" USA (no city specified), franked 100 mils & tied by 2x strikes of the local postmark + censor handstamp. The cover was misdirected to Israel via Haifa airport (the only one operating incoming civilian aviation prior to the reopening of Lydda in November)...

1948-49 War Syrian airlink with Palestine: 7 JAN 1949 airletter from LONG ISLAND CITY to addressee at the [Israeli] Rechavia neighborhood in JERUSALEM "Palestine", with imprinted 10c franking per postage period rate & tied by local machine cancel; the cover was subsequently backstamped [unclear] 1949 DAMASCUS transit where marked by rare Syrian 3-line French language "Return to Origin | Commun...

Rare Syrian no-service marking on Colombian airmail to Israel-Palestine: 29 Jan 1949 postmarked air mail cover on imprinted business postal stationary, sent from BOGOTA Colombia to addressee at Ben Yehuda Street in JERUSALEM "Palestine"; franked 2.16 Pesos & tied by 4x strikes of the local postmark + instructional handstamp "POR AVION No 3" for the airmail routing. Evidentally misrouted via Syria ...

Postal history discovery: 31 Jan 1949 postmarked air mail cover sent from BEIRUT Lebanon and addressed to serviceman at Royal Air Force RAF base in AMMAN Jordan, mixed franked 35 Lebanese Piastres + 0.50 Syrian Piastres stamps (1940 landscapes series; possibly used as a 'Palestine welfare tax' stamp in lieu of the national issue - but unusual) & tied by 3x strikes of the local postmark, including ...