Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The provisional government of Israel (Hebrew: , HaMemshela HaZmanit) was the temporary cabinet which governed Israel from shortly before independence until the formation of the first government in March 1949 following the first Knesset elections in January that year. It was formed as Minhelet HaAm (Hebrew: , lit. People''s Administration) on 12 April 1948, in preparation for independence just over a month later. All its members were taken from Moetzet HaAm (People''s Council), the temporary legislative body set up at the same time. On 12 May, Minhelet HaAm convened to vote on whether to declare independence. Three of the members were missing; Yehuda Leib Maimon and Yitzhak Gruenbaum were stuck in besieged Jerusalem, whilst Yitzhak-Meir Levin was in the United States.