Memorial Day 2003

  • Issue: April 2003
  • Designer: Eva Cohen Saban
  • Stamp Size: 40 mm x 25.7 mm
  • Plate no.: 506 (one phosphor bar)
  • Sheet of 15 stamps Tabs: 5
  • Printers: Government Printers
  • Method of printing: offset

Armored Vehicles on the road to Jerusalem

On 29 November 1947, as the United Nations declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Yisrael, the Arabs made it their objective to make sure, that at any price, it would not happen. As soon as the day after the UN resolution was announced, Arabs attacked two buses (some say there was one bus) that were on their way to Jerusalem. The attacks on travelling vehicles were part of many terrorist acts including raids on isolated villages and assaults on Jewish people in mixed towns.

In order to ensure communication between the settlers and towns, the "Yishuv" (Jewish Settlers' Organization) arranged for transport in guarded convoys and later in armored vehicles. The armored vehicles were called "sandwiches" because they were constructed with a wooden board between two metal plates in order to protect the driver and passenger.

Maintaining an open route to Jerusalem, and allowing for continuous connection and travel, was the symbol in the "battle of the roads" that took place from Tel Aviv to the besieged city of Jerusalem. The convoys were halted by snipers who came down from the hills and opened heavy fire on the passengers and vehicles. Some of the vehicles managed to reach their destination and brought life and hope to the besieged but others didn't make it and drivers and passengers paid with their lives. The burnt-out skeletons of armored vehicles were left at the side of the road as a monument, to memorialize the battle for safe passage to Jerusalem - each vehicle with its name and date.

Jacob Vidas
Acting Director Israel Philatelic Service

top top

Memorial Day 2003