On November 29, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a proposal to partition Mandatory Palestine subsequent to the end of British Mandate. The resolution would create independent Arab and Jewish States and defined boundaries between the two. Jerusalem would have a special international regime with boundaries between it and the two States of Palestine and Israel. There would be a timeline for withdrawal of British forces. Despite reservations, the Jewish Agency for Palestine accepted the plan. Arab leaders rejected any partitioning, and after the Resolution was adopted by the General Assembly civil war ensued.
As the British discontinued postal services in April 1948, postal operations and post offices were transferred to the Provisional government, and the latter utilized JNF/KKL labels with overprints or in some cases (e.g., the towns of Safed and Nahariya) ad hoc postage – prior to the declaration of the State of Israel. This transition or interim period lasted from May 1 to May 15, 1948. Israel Post began to issue stamps on May 16, 1948 – a Sunday (Saturday was the Sabbath), titled Doar Ivri - Hebrew Post – as the name of the new nation had not yet been chosen.
The Jewish National Fund (JNF-KKL) began in 1901 with a Zionist vision of a homeland for Jews the world over. Inspired in part by Theodor Herzl’s The Jewish State, the JNF began initially with the purchase and the development of land in Ottoman Palestine. Over the years, the Zionist pioneering tradition, facilitated by funds raised by the JNF through charitable contributions of diaspora Jews, resulted in the expansive growth of the State of Israel. This growth came in part through the JNF’s support of land development through planting trees and forestry management; desert reclamation projects such as the building of irrigation systems, reservoirs and dams to alleviate water shortage; improvements in agricultural technology; community development and the provision of affordable housing for Israeli citizens; and other initiatives that grew in concert with expanded immigration and the growth of the land. While JNF’s goals and portfolio of initiatives has been constantly evolving, its stated mission has always been one of prosperity for its people, and the fundamental importance of Zionism to this mission.
JNF labels themselves were always a means of realizing and supporting JNF organizational goals, not only by raising funds for its initiatives but as well serving an important educational function by raising awareness of Zionist ideology. The world-in-miniature artfully portrayed on JNF labels depicts relevant aspects and important figures of Zionist history through a microscopic focus on people and places: institutions and monuments; cities and farms; statesmen and intellectuals; warrior heroes and martyrs; artists, philosophers, farmers and writers: all inspiring and contributing to the Zionist dream of a Jewish homeland.
--Michael D. Bulmash, K1966
Browse the Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection.
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Nahariya by the Sea Emergency Post on Unaddressed Envelope
2021.1.59
White envelope with three stamps, one white, one red, and one green.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Nahariya By the Sea Emergency Post postmarked 5 May 1948 on unaddressed Interim cover. After the liberation of Palestine in 1948, the local council of Nahariya issued emergency stamps for postage until the regular stamps of Israel were available.
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Rishon Le Zion Interim Covers
2021.1.60ab
Two white envelopes, both have blue stamps showing a figure holding a gun with the Israeli flag in the background.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Interim cover May 6, 1948 Rishon Le Zion imperforate label/stamp, “transported by armoured car,” to Tel Aviv. Rishon Le Zion is 12 miles from Tel Aviv. With the withdrawal of the British from Palestine in September 1947, hostilities broke out with the Arabs impacting communications. As an emergency device, buses and taxis were used to carry mail, but rates were prohibitively expensive. As a consequence, the local Council of Rishon established its own postal service with Tel Aviv, and created its own special stamp, designed by Eva Samuel. Service continued until May 6 when the regular Minhelet Ha’am - Interim - service could take over.
Israel interim period Rishon Le Zion Nachlat Yehuda. Mailed to Tel Aviv cancelled last date: 5/6/1948. Local stamps in use until May 7th. Nachlat-Jehuda was postal agency near Rishon le Zion.
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Provisional Label/Stamp Used During the Period Between British Mandate and Beginning of Jewish State
2021.1.76
Dark blue stamp showing thirteen men at a table with two flags of Israel behind them. Hebrew text along the top and bottom borders.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
JNF/KKL label/stamp of David Ben Gurion formally declaring the Establishment of the State of Israel.
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First Day Cover from Tel Aviv
2021.1.56
Envelope with copies of the Balfour declaration and UN decision to establish Israel on front.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
First day cover commemorating opening of the first post office in Tel Avi, May 16, 1948 with new Doar Ivri stamp of the State of Israel cancelled in Tel Aviv 5-16-1948. Cover contains image of Balfour Declaration to Lord Rothschild from November 1917, and the list of the 33 countries who voted in favor of the proposal in the United Nations General Assembly to establish a Jewish State in Palestine on November 29, 1947. An image in red of Theodor Herzl, father of modern Zionism as a political movement, and supporter of immigration to Palestine and the formation of a Jewish state.
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Registered Mail from Haifa Postmarked in English, Hebrew and Arabic
2021.1.62
White envelope with a blue stamp, green stamp, and four gray stamps.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Registered mail Haifa, 5-16-1948, post marked English, Hebrew and Arabic, last day of Jewish Administration and first day of State of Israel with Doar Ivri stamp and Chaim Weizmann Interim labels, 2 overprints Haifa and two overprints Tel Aviv.
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Provisional Label/Stamp Used During the Period Between British Mandate and Beginning of Jewish State
2021.1.81
Dark blue stamp depicting a tall brick monument with an inscription in Hebrew. Hebrew text along the bottom and inset next to the monument.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Roads to Jerusalem Commemoration Monument, inscription reads: “To our comrades who with their guns opened, built and conquered this road.”
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Provisional Label/Stamp Used During the Period Between British Mandate and Beginning of Jewish State
2021.1.83ab
[2021.1.83a] Red stamp depicting a tree overlooking a valley landscape
[2021.1.83b] Green stamp depicting a tree overlooking a valley landscape.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Landscape of Galil.
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International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Holocaust Souvenir Leaf
2021.1.70a
Leaflet reading “Israel-UN Joint Stamp Issue with a silver border and blue background with candles and stamps for the International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
A souvenir leaf for International Day of Commemoration of Victims of Holocaust from 2008. Three years before, on November 1, 2005, the United Nations General Assembly designated January 27 as an annual International Day of Commemoration for victims of the Holocaust. Verso: The resolution repudiates Holocaust denial, and member states are encouraged to develop “educational programs instructing future generations about the horrors of genocide and condemns … all manifestations of religious intolerance … based on ethnic origin or religious belief.”
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International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Holocaust First Day Cover
2021.1.70b
First Day Cover for International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Holocaust. Art with a blue Star of David with a skull and cross bones and the faint outline of a swastika, over a piece of barbed wire that turns into a white flower.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
International Holocaust Remembrance Day first day of issue of commemorative stamp with blue Star of David surmounted by skull and crossbones, a faint outline of a swastika, and barbed wire representing death camps and ghettos ultimately yielding tentatively to the hope of life symbolized by a flower emerging from the barbed wire. Part of a joint philatelic issue with the United Nations Postal Administration.
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Interim Cover with 4 Labels Used as Stamps with Doar Overprint
2021.1.61
White envelope with four stamps, one gray, one brown, one blue, and one green in the corners. Writing in black ink on the front.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Interim Cover with 4 JNF-KKL labels used as stamps with Doar overprint: [Redemption of land label (1940), immigrant ship label (1946), Warsaw ghetto uprising label (1946) and Ramat Gan label (1947).]
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Interim Cover with Haifa Postmark and Three JNF Labels
2021.1.66
White envelope with three stamps across the top, two gray and one brown.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Interim (Minhelet Ha’am) cover with Haifa postmark, and three JNF labels/stamps:
1) Construction and Defense stamp (1946)
2) Negev Pipeline Stamp (1948)
3) Herzl Jubilee Stamp (1946): 50th Anniversary of “Jewish State.”
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Provisional Label/Stamp Used During the Period Between British Mandate and Beginning of Jewish State
2021.1.71a
Light blue stamp with black Hebrew postmark over an image of the proposed Jewish state.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Pre-Israel Interim stamp with Doar postmark showing outline of the partitioned territory as proposed by the UN. The darker area is the proposed area for the Jewish state.
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Provisional Label/Stamp Used During the Period Between British Mandate and Beginning of Jewish State
2021.1.71b
Brown stamp showing the proposed Jewish state with Hebrew writing along the bottom and the top left corner.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Pre-Israel Interim stamp with Doar postmark showing outline of the partitioned territory as proposed by the UN. The darker area is the proposed area for the Jewish state.