Provisional State Council

The Provisional State Council (Hebrew: מועצת המדינה הזמנית, Moetzet HaMedina HaZmanit) was the temporary legislature of Israel from shortly before independence until the election of the first Knesset in January 1949. It took the place of His Majesty's Privy Council, through which the British Government had legislated for Mandatory Palestine.

Provisional State Council

מועצת המדינה הזמנית

Moetzet HaMedina HaZmanit
Type
Type
History
Founded12 April 1948
Disbanded3 February 1949
Leadership
Structure
Seats37
Political groups
Provisional government (30)

Opposition (7)

Elections
Party-list proportional representation
D'Hondt method
Last election
-

History

The Provisional State Council was established under the name Moetzet HaAm (מועצת העם, lit. People's Council) on 12 April 1948 in preparation for independence just over a month later. There were 37 members representing all sides of the Jewish political spectrum, from the Revisionists to the Communists. A separate body, Minhelet HaAm was set up as the proto-cabinet, all of whose members were also members of Moetzet HaAm.

On 14 May at 13:50, Moetzet HaAm met at the Jewish National Fund building in Tel Aviv to vote on the text of the Israeli Declaration of Independence. Despite disagreements over issues such as borders and religion, it was passed unanimously and the meeting ended at 15:00, an hour before the declaration was to be made. The 37 members were those that signed the declaration.

Following independence, the body was renamed the Provisional State Council. Its last meeting was held on 3 February 1949, after which it was replaced by the Constituent Assembly which was had been elected on 25 January. The Constituent Assembly first convened on 14 February, and two days later declared itself the first Knesset.

The council's titular figurehead, Chaim Weizmann, was Israel's de facto head of state until he was elected president in February 1949.

Members

Party Seats Members
Mapai10David Ben-Gurion, Meir Argov, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, Eliyahu Dobkin, Eliezer Kaplan,
Avraham Katznelson, Golda Meir, David Remez, Mordechai Shatner, Moshe Sharett
General Zionists3Daniel Auster, Eliyahu Berligne, Peretz Bernstein
Hatzohar3Herzl Rosenblum, Zvi Segal, Ben-Zion Sternberg
Mapam3Mordechai Bentov, Zvi Luria, Aharon Zisling
Mizrachi3Wolf Gold, Yehuda Leib Maimon, David-Zvi Pinkas
New Aliyah Party/
Progressive Party
3Avraham Granot, Moshe Kol, Pinchas Rosen
Agudat Yisrael2Meir David Loewenstein, Yitzhak Meir Levin
Hapoel HaMizrachi2Haim-Moshe Shapira, Zerach Warhaftig
Poalei Agudat Yisrael1Kalman Kahana
Ahdut HaAvoda - Poale Zion1Berl Repetur
Poale Zion Left1Nahum Nir
Palestine Communist Party/Maki1Meir Vilner (replaced by Shmuel Mikunis following independence)
Sephardim and Oriental Communities1Bechor-Shalom Sheetrit
WIZO1Rachel Cohen-Kagan
Yemenite Association1Saadia Kobashi
Independent1Yitzhak Gruenbaum
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