The land west of the Jordan River was under British administration until 1948. The land to the east of the river was under the rule of the Hashemite family and gained independence in 1946. After the 2^nd World War, the United Nations General Assembly took a decision to divide Palestine into Arab and Jewish states. As a result, the Jews declared the independence of the State of Israel in 1948. During the subsequent war, Jordan captured what is today known as the West Bank and a Palestine Government was also announced for the Gaza strip. Subsequent wars and much unrest characterised the region, including the famous Six Day War in 1967, and generally the actual facts are very obscure. What did evolve after this war, was the PLO, under Yasser Arafat which was internationally recognised as the representative of the Palestinian people, but which was a terrorist organisation. In 2012, the State of Palestine gained non-member observer status at the United Nations, allowing the country to take part in general debates.

From 1920 to 1923, stamps bore the three official languages of the region, English, Arab and Hebrew. The postal service was run mainly by the British but after the unrest in 1947-1948, their postal service deteriorated. Before the end of British rule over Palestine, existing stamps were destroyed and Palestine was removed from the World Postal Union. The postal service was chaotic.

French stamps were issued via the French Consulate at this time. The Jewish Provisional Government issued stamps for a short period in 1948. Since 1948 Egypt, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian national Authority issued stamps. From 1948 until 1967, Egypt and Jordan provided the stamps for Gaza and the West Bank. Both countries overprinted their stamps with the word “Palestine”. Since 1994, the Palestinian National Authority has issued its own stamps. In 2013 the first stamps with “State of Palestine” were issued by the Palestinian postal service.