The United Nations partition resolution for Palestine, which was adopted on November 29, 1947, called upon the two states whose establishment it advocated – a Jewish state and an Arab state – to adopt written constitutions that would guarantee, among other things, “equal non-discriminatory rights in religious, economic, and political areas to all persons, including human rights, freedom of religion, language, speech, education, publication, assembly, and association” (Medding 1990: 11–12; Mahler 1990: 81). In accordance with this resolution, Israel's declaration of independence, adopted on May 14, 1948, stipulated that “a Constitution [would] be drawn up by a Constituent Assembly not later than the first day of October 1948” (Medding 1990: 238). In July 1948 a constitutional committee was established to prepare a draft constitution, and the constituent assembly was elected in January 1949. Instead of adopting a constitution, however, the constituent assembly declared itself to be the first Knesset on March 8, 1949. On June 13, 1950 “the Knesset voted by a 50–30 margin to postpone indefinitely the adoption of a formal written constitution and decided instead to allow for its gradual creation, with the individual pieces to be designated Fundamental [or Basic] Laws” (Mahler 1990: 83).

The debate leading up to the decision not to formulate a complete written constitution in the main pitted against each other politicians advocating a liberal conception of citizenship and making formal, principled arguments and those seeking to promote an ethno-nationalist or republican conception and arguing in the name of pragmatic considerations.