Exactly. I put the card in an envelope addressed to the proxy and the proxy will put the card in another envelope addressed to the final recipient.
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I think this could work. I think it’d be interesting to have a thread to match proxies with those who need one. What do the moderators think?
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He is taking a political stance, the two countries shouldn’t stop their citizens communicating.
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If you wrote an imaginary address with pencil or pen that can be erased and then stamp it? and afterwards take it back and write whatever you want
If you need any more help, I can do so! I know how problematic it is between those two countries… my best friend is Lebanese and dreams to travel to Jerusalem one day in her live (for Easter celeberation) and she can’t, because in her passport there is noted she has been travelling to Lebanon 
She is waiting for a new passport and hopes nobody will notice her (very rural and unknown) place of birth…
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I read somewhere (maybe the old forum) about someone who was travelling in Iraq, wanted to send a card to a friend in Israel. They wrote the Israeli address but put Ireland instead of Israel. The Irish post office redirected it. Apparently this is a known trick.
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In my country, there is a solution, write the address as“ target address via proxy address".The postman will send your postcard to the proxy country first, and then the postman in the proxy country will forward your postcard to your tsrget address.
Of course, this method is rarely used. I don’t know if it can be used in your country. Maybe even if it exists, not many people know it. It’s best to consult the postal manual or ask the postal department.
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Yes, this was reported in a thread in the old forum, and according to the sender it worked. The card was rerouted from Ireland and reached Israel.
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That’s a brilliant idea. But it works only one way.
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@mazenfakih I would be very honored to act as the proxy in both directions. Especially considering my own country’s history. I absolutely love your idea to find a way to send a postcard between two countries that for political reasons refuse to let their citizens communicate! 
If she has German citizenship, she can request a second passport while the first is still valid. Germany has introduced this possibility exactly for such political issues (and for the same reason, Israel never puts a stamp in a passport but gives you a piece of paper as stay permit, valid together with your passport - been there and was very sad that they didn’t even have a stamp, because I really wanted one in my passport).
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In Germany the rule is: If your mail item has an address, they are not allowd to give it back after cancellation, it must be mailed. If there is no address, you get it back after the cancellation. Per the rules they must put another cancellation into the address area (so you can’t enter an address later and create a “fake mailed item”), but if you ask nicely usually you can get it without that additional cancellation.
She actually has a German passport 
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So you are also in need of a recipient in Israel? I have a friend there. I can ask her. I can also act as proxy. Will you send me a private message with your plans?
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I think that’s a risky practice since I know several people got their cards returned because the post office thinks that there are two countries of destination in the address. In China, if a “via” country is really necessary, just write the country of destination, and the post office will choose the country for you. (For instance, France for French Guiana.)
You might be able to route it through the United Nations at their postal offices in Austria, Switzerland, or USA. It would be contingent upon being able to buy UN postage by mail or online. Stamp collectors do this all the time. But be warned, the delay can take forever. I live near the UN in New York and I posted a letter to myself and it took over a month to get back to me due to Covid restrictions. Otherwise it took nearly two weeks when I brought one to them in person before the pandemic. The UN post office in New York used to be regular USPS branch except only UN postage stamps were allowed, and they dispatched daily. Today it’s just an outlet for tourists to leave their postcards and basic letters, and they process them when they feel like it.
But this is not without risk if either government discovers you are doing this to evade their rule, just as with a proxy.
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Absolutely. And considering that such an artifact is bound to get noticed at the UN where there are representatives from both countries, it is aa guaranteed disaster.
This is interesting. I thought earlier it would be like this in Finland too. However, when I started to hand-cancel cards in the post office they actually gave me the cards back to put them to the delivery box. So it would be easy to cancel the mail without actually mailing them.
I actually did it once because my friend had moved before I was able to ship their already addressed letter (a long story!) and it already had a stamp and I didn’t want the beautiful envelope be covered with a sticker or something… so I got it cancelled and when visiting my friend I just silently dropped it in their hallway (we got mail slots here) and said a moment later: “I think I heard the mail.” 
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Well, what is written in the regulations and what individual persons actually do may differ. Especially if you know them well 
The background of that regulation is that the postal cancellation is a legal proof of mailing, so if they gave it back it would open the possibility of fraud. If I would drop cancelled mail into the regular postbox in Germany, it may get fined as invalid postage - and it would definitely go through the cancelling machine at the Briefzentrum (mailing center), which I would like to avoid for aesthetic reasons. Our post offices have different boxed for non-cancelled and cancelled mail (though not all clearks know or care…).
Actually, in Finland you shouldn’t give postmarked/cancelled items back to the customer either. Because, the stamp is a mark that it got taken to Posti, and approved (enough postage). If you take it back, you could go home and add more items (to a letter).
And, doesn’t it then got cancelled twice (which I wouldn’t mind), if it’s put to the delivery box? Or even thought it’s a used stamp? Interesting.
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In Finland, Posti is so unreliable (the delivery times vary) and it is estimated only 10% of mail is cancelled, so cancellation mark is not a legal proof of anything anymore.
This has happened in an official post office (we only have two left in whole country). I do not know the clerks nor did I ask them specifically to hand the mail back. I was also surprised that we can put already cancelled mail in delivery boxes. But it is useful, since last year Posti delivered me several letters I had sent (the machine had read the return address only) so I just kept putting them back to delivery boxes until they finally went to right way. (Not all of these were cancelled or the cancellation mark was in a wrong place, but still.)
I think it would be quite difficult to open the letter and add more there… just to save an euro or two. If one wanted to cheat it would be easier to put insufficient postage in the first place and hope it gets delivered. (I guess it could be quite likely, since the mail system is now what it is. People have even used regular stickers as stamps which is of course illegal.)
Yes, the mail could get cancelled again, but it isn’t very likely. Also, about using cancelled stamp again, I think it is easy to see that the stamp is cancelled on the card or the envelope themselves, the cancellation mark is not only on the stamp. I guess some one could put used stamps and then draw the rest of the mark… But that would be a lot of work! It would be easier to use uncancelled used stamps. It is also of course illegal, but there have been some news about people doing it.