Auction #39

India, Registered air mail cover sent from Calcutta on 10/4/1948 to Beirut via Palestine (Lydda 16/4/48 and Haifa 26/4/48) arriving on 20/5/1948. Mixed franked 14 Annas using 6As King George VI and pair 3½As Independence stamps (SG 274 and 302). Despite the red handwritten indication route Via PanAm via Damascus, the envelope was routed via Palestine in Lydda shortly before the airport was evacuated by the British and occuped by Arab Defence Forces. In a fortunate way arrived in Haifa shortly after the occupation by the Carmeli Brigade of the Haganah paramilitary organization and from there routed to Beirut resulting one of the last mail which crossed the Lebanese-Israeli border. VERY RARE HISTORICAL INDIAN COVER INVOLVED IN THE FIRST ISRAEL-PALESTINE WAR.