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Milestones in the Postal History of the Holy Land
The Alexander collection depicts the history of the
Holy Land through the eyes of a philatelist and postal
historian. Beginning in the 15th century, through the
pre-philatelic period, the Turkish Post, Foreign Post
Offices, World War I, the evolution of Zionism, the
development of agricultural settlements, the British
Mandate, the struggle for independence, the Israeli War of
Independence, and up to the birth of the State of Israel,
the collection sheds light on postal services and the Holy
Land from a broad historical perspective. It highlights
both the geopolitical and socio-economic aspects of
the respective peoples and periods, with a particular
emphasis on the strong ties of World Jewry to the Land
of Israel and the Zionist endeavor. It also includes a
collection of “Arab Palestine” showing the Arab effort to
fight the establishment of the Jewish State.
Zvi Alexander was born in Poland, and at the age of
12 immigrated to Eretz Israel and graduated from the
“Hertzliya” Gymnasium. He volunteered and served in the
British Army during WW 2, and later served as an officer
in the Signal Corps of the Israel Defence Force. In 1953
he was sent to the United States to represent the Signal
Corps of the Israeli Ministry of Defence purchasing
Mission in New York. While in New York he attended the
Graduate Business School of Columbia University. After
coming back in 1957 from his assignment in New York,
Zvi joined the oil industry in its first years of oil
exploration in Israel. He served as assistant director
general of “Lapidoth”, the owners of the only oil field in
Israel, and in 1965 was appointed Managing Director of
the Israel National Oil Company, a post he held until 1974
when the Israeli Government, following the Yom Kippur
war, sold the company to a British Investment Bank. At the
request of the purchasing Bank Zvi continued to manage
the oil company in England. After leaving the Bank several
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