The Provisional State Council (, 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.
History The Provisional State Council was established under the name Moetzet HaAm (, 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 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 PartySeatsMembersMapai10David Ben-Gurion, Meir Argov, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, Eliyahu Dobkin, Eliezer Kaplan, Avraham Katznelson, Golda Meir, David Remez, Mordechai Shatner, Moshe SharettGeneral Zionists3Daniel Auster, Eliyahu Berligne, Peretz BernsteinHatzohar3Herzl Rosenblum, Zvi Segal, Ben-Zion SternbergMapam3Mordechai Bentov, Zvi Luria, Aharon ZislingMizrachi3Wolf Gold, Yehuda Leib Maimon, David-Zvi PinkasNew Aliyah Party/Progressive Party3Avraham Granot, Moshe Kol, Pinchas RosenAgudat Yisrael2Meir David Loewenstein, Yitzhak Meir LevinHapoel HaMizrachi2Haim-Moshe Shapira, Zerach WarhaftigPoalei Agudat Yisrael1Kalman KahanaAhdut HaAvoda - Poale Zion1Berl RepeturPoale Zion Left1Nahum NirPalestine Communist Party/Maki1Meir Vilner (replaced by Shmuel Mikunis following independence)Sephardim and Oriental Communities1Bechor-Shalom SheetritWIZO1Rachel Cohen-KaganYemenite Association1Saadia KobashiIndependent1Yitzhak Gruenbaum
External links Historical overview of the Provisional State Council Knesset website Provisional State Council Knesset website