The Israeli Declaration of Independence included the following provision:

We declare that after the termination of the British Mandate, from the 15 May 1948 and until elected authorities of the state would be established in accordance with a constitution accepted by the Elected Constituent Assembly not later than October 1, 1948—the Provisional State Council would act as the temporary State Council, and its executive institution, the Provisional Government of Israel, would constitute the temporary Government of the Jewish state, which would be named Israel.

The first meeting of Israel’s new provisional government took place on May 16th. The members of the provisional government were:

David Ben Gurion
Aharon Zisling
Eliezer Kaplan
Moshe Sharett
Haim-Moshe Shapira
Yitzhak Gruenbaum
Pinchas Rosen
Mordechai Bentov
Bechor-Shalom Sheetrit
Yehuda Leib Maimon
Peretz Bernstein
David Remez
Yehuda Leib Maimon
Yitzhak-Meir Levin

Levin and Gruenbaum were both in Jerusalem, which was embattled and were unable to attend the meeting. At the provisional government’s initial session, Moshe Shertok, who had just returned from the United States, reported how the State Department and the Defense Department opposed US recognition of the newly established state of Israel. Nevertheless, Truman overrode the recommendations of both governmental departments and announced recognition. 

Acting in his capacity of Defense Minister, Ben Gurion then gave a presentation on the state of Israel’s military. Among other things, Ben Gurion said that if the State was able to receive 80% of the weapons it had already ordered, it could hold off the Arab attacks for a long time. However, Israel now needed tanks and planes, and those were more expensive.

Ben Gurion recommended sending Golda Meir to the US to raise money. Ben Gurion acknowledged that it was thanks to earlier funds Golda had collected for the Yishuv in the United States that Israel was able to acquire many of its new weapons. At that first provisional government meeting, it was also decided that Dr. Chaim Weizmann would be elected the first President of the country.

The Law and Administrative Ordinance No. 1 was adopted at the Provisional Government's second meeting on May 19th. It created a framework for governing in the interim period.

Among its notable sections included:
• A delineation of the interim government.
• A definition of the budget and the power to tax.
• The adoption of the current laws that existed under the mandate.
• A repeal of the White Paper of 1939.

The provisional government remained in place until the election could be safely held on January 29th, 1949.