MAIL VIA THIRD COUNTRY - THE LONDON FORWARDING OFFICE
External Envelopes
First phase: to London office
External envelopes mailed to the London forwarding office: envelopes addressed to final destinations, without postal stamps, but including 2 IRCs [international reply coupons]. The external envelopes were addressed to "The Manager (or Head) Post Office, King Edward Street, LONDON", with multiple and sometimes amusing variants of the above address. The senders of these letters to Arab countries are known to be from the Gaza Strip, Sinai, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Israel.
A. Handwritten
Israeli West Bank postal address on reverse: against the rules |
Department dealing with 3rd country mail: "FOREIGN SECTION" arrival Pmk on rear (rare) |
Note address: Israel West Bank, Alaroup (ie: Al Aroub Camp), Hebron
Note specific address: "…room 320 … " etc.
ex JERUSALEM - ISRAEL on rear
Rare external envelopes ex Israel proper (not 1967 Terr.) incl. Reg. etc.
REG. -R-, ex Israel proper (not 1967 Territories). Rare.
From 'TIBERIUS - ISRAEL' (address on back).
UNUSUAL: external envelope posted at the town of YAMIT - SINAI, Dec.1979. Following signing of the 1979 peace treaty with Egypt, Yamit was evacuated and destroyed in April 1982. |
ex EL-ARISH (SINAI), Registered, transit Gaza-3. |
B. Printed ex Israel
PRINTED EXTERNAL ENVELOPES. Shrewd entrepreneurs in the Gaza Strip issued pre-printed envelopes addressed to "The Manager (or Head) Post Office, King Edward Street, LONDON EC1, England (or UK)" address, into which the final-destination letter and 2 IRCs were placed. There were also "address writers", especially in the Rafah area, who sold hand written envelopes with the London address. More than 15 different envelope types are known, as well as several pre-printed envelopes addressed to: The Post Manager, Nicosia, Cyprus.
Pre-printed envelope ex Gaza |
Pre-printed envelope ex Al Nuseirat (camp in Gaza). Very Rare, Reg. |
Rubber stamped envelope addressed to London ex El-Mughazi camp, Gaza
Professional "Address Writer"
At Rafih Post Office
C. ex Arab Countries
EXTERNAL ENVELOPES ex ARAB COUNTRIES TO FORWARDING OFFICE IN LONDON - ARE KNOWN FROM THE FOLLOWING STATES :
|
(1) Algeria
(2) Bahrain (3) Egypt (4) Iraq (5) Iran (6) Jordan (7) Kuwait (8) Lebanon (9) Libya (10) Morocco |
(11) Nigeria
(12) Oman (13) Pakistan (14) Qatar (15) Saudi Arabia (16) Syria (17) Tunisia (18) United Arab Emirates (19) Yemen |
Iraq |
Lebanon |
Kuwait |
Kuwait |
Pakistan |
|
Qatar |
Tunisia |
Saudi Arabia |
Saudi Arabia |
United Arab Emirates |
From IRAQ "To Israel" on front, AGAINST RULES (but - not returned). |
Yemen |
Yemen |
External envelope ex LIBYA (1979) w. QUOTE from Muammar Qaddafi's "Green Book": "Democracy means popular rule, not popular expression". |
Parent envelope ex LIBYA (1979) w. QUOTE from Muammar Qaddafi's "Green Book": "The party system aborts Democracy". |
Polska / Poland ??
Posted in LONDON, to Israel. The above envelopes , probably brought to Lonodn by passenger and dropped into mail box after franking with British stamps, to enhance delivery .
D. Address Anecdotes
Envelope Embellishments: Appearance of the word 'Undercover'; Acknowledgments (eg: Thanks); Minimal addresses which nonetheless apparently reached their destination, etc.
.."UNDERCOVER…. London" - use of actual term in written address, ex Israel. |
"…under the cover of…" as part of written address, ex BAHRAIN |
"thank you" at the bottom of the envelop.
"SERVICE HOPE" on hand Reg. cv, "many thanks for the post office". |
"ARABIC service" Reg. cv |
Against all odds… minimal address: "British LONDON" + arrival pmk. |
minimal address "London P.O Box" + arrival pmk. |
"Printed" envelope ex> HEVRON (W. Bank) w. erroneous "King David St.(!!)" instead of King Edward…
Mayor of Hebron Mr. Ja'abri , arrival and speech at the hebron post office opening ceremony , July 9th 1967 .
To: "The director of UNIVERSAL POSTAL UNION LONDON, ENGLAND" U.P.U. |
orwarding Post office address at "MOUNT PLEASANT" London (see next). |
Cover ex Salfit, probably, erroneously arr. at "Mount Pleasant Hotel" (red, rubber), instead of the post office on the same street.
E. "Helpful Information"
These are remarks added by senders who hope to "help" ensure that their letters reach their destination, and include "instructions" to the Forwarding Post Office Clerks, e.g. destination of internal letter, or address of sender, appearing on external envelope despite prohibition according to the rules of undercover mail.
"TO Saudi Arabia" (against the rules) |
"Iraq - Baghdad". |
"SUDAN KHARTOUM Faculty of PHARMACY". "Insufficient.. for Air Mail". |
"ALGERIE -ORAN". |
"to send to Israel, Gaza Strep, thang yaw", ex Egypt
"Please n dp n e ti send this t mer to mg friend in Israid", ex Saudi Arabia. |
"Under cover to KUWAIT" + Thanks on a piece of paper. |
'Nablus, West Bank, Israel', ex Iraq, |
"..With THANKFUL, then to the West Bank of Jordan". ex Kuwait. |
"Representation is a falsification of Democracy" "The Green Book" (M. Qaddafi) ex Libya, w. "pls sent this letter to Gaza Strip" at bottom. |
"UNDER COVER to Jordain" v.r. use of this expression. |
ex Saudi Arabia, "…Ghaza Strip, Khan Younis, Occupied Palestine".
F. Censored External Envelopes
"Printed" envelope ex Dir El-Balah (Gaza), opened by Israeli Censor (label). Gaza transit postmarkand London 20.Dec.1979 arrival postmark (RR). |
different type of label |
G. Arrival Postmarks
Usually there are no arrival postmarks, so these two are very rare and extraordinary.
Rare arrival postmark on rear. Top: "London Chief Office". Bottom: London E.C.1A 1AA, 31.Oct.1977". V.R.
Usually NO arrival postmark. A rare case of backstamp: ex Anabta arr. 19.Jan.77.