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Palestine

FIRST STAMPS ISSUED 1 February 1918.
First stamps specifically overprinted PALESTINE 1 September 1920.

CURRENCY
1918, Egyptian.
1927, 1000 mils = 1 Palestine Pound.

Part of Turkish Syria between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan Valley, taken from the Turks 31 October - 9 December 1917, was under British military occupation to 1 July 1920. A British civil administration was followed on 23 September 1923 by a League of Nations mandate until 15 May 1948, to which Muslim 'Palestinians' and Zionist settlers alike became increasingly hostile.

Forerunners
(For further details, see Turkish Empire): Turkish Empire mail before 1863 is so rare that little is known about the service. A weekly Turkish courier service was inaugurated between Beirut and Jerusalem, via SourAcre-Haifa-Jaffa, in the 1840s. Early POs existed at Jerusalem, Jaffa, Acre, Bethlehem, Gaza, Hebron, Nablus, and Tiberias. Stamps of Turkey were used 1863-1917. Until 1874 when Turkey joined the UPU, all external mail was probably sent via one of the foreign powers' POs.

First stamps of February 1918 were inscribed E.E.F. and were valid in territories occupied by the British 'Egyptian Expeditionary Force', which included Transjordan, Cilicia, Sinai, and Syria; they are, however, generally treated by collectors as the first issue of Palestine.

Palestine 1918-48
Click map for larger view