A Constituent Assembly for Israel:
Questions and Answers

A constituent assembly is a body whose purpose is to formulate a country's constitutional arrangements, i.e. a basic set of agreements according to which a country would be governed. Many countries have convened constituent assemblies (also commonly known as constitutional conventions or assemblies) in order to draft constitutions, propose amendments to existing constitutions, or formulate semi-constitutional agreements.

The drafters of Israel's Declaration of Independence determined that "the elected, regular authorities of the State" shall be established "in accordance with the Constitution which shall be adopted by the Elected Constituent Assembly not later than the 1st October 1948". But in fact, Israel's Constituent Assembly only first convened on 14 Feb 1949, and a few days later changed its name to "The First Knesset". Disagreements about the very necessity of a constitution as well as about the right time to draft it led the Constituent Assembly to confirm what became known as the "Harari Resolution" on 13 Jun 1950, according to which "[t]he First Knesset instructs the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee to prepare a draft State Constitution. The constitution will be built chapter by chapter, in such a way that each will constitute a separate Basic Law. The chapters shall be presented to the Knesset when the committee completes its work, and all the chapters together shall comprise the Constitution of the State."

This is where the term Basic Law originated. The Knesset has passed and amended various Basic Laws since then, regarding the electoral system, the branches of government and its institutions, the nature and character of the state and individual rights. Only a small number of those Basic Laws were given special protected status so as to shield them against amendment by narrow, random majorities. Most Basic Laws, however, can be amended by any majority in the Knesset.

A Constituent Assembly has not reconvened since Israel's first elections, and the Knesset has also refrained from formulating Israel's constitutional arrangements into a solid, coherent legislative framework.

We propose to reconvene the Constituent Assembly.

In proposing a detailed framework for convening a Constituent Assembly for Israel, we hope to overcome the impasse that has been paralyzing Israeli society in recent months. We believe that convening a Constituent Assembly may serve as the beginning of a solution, and that the Assembly's actions may provide the solution itself – by forging the broad agreements that are so necessary for Israel. Public discourse has tended to focus on the substance of potential future agreements between various factions of Israeli society, and thus has emphasized areas of controversy. The path we aim to build focuses, conversely, on suggested mechanisms and procedures for arriving at such arrangements. Where there is no agreement on substance, there may still be agreement on procedure. We believe that an agreed upon, fair, and appropriate procedure for constitutional decision-making can, in these critical times, consolidate broad agreement that would not be possible otherwise.

We hope that our proposal can help resolve Israel's crisis and enrich the public and political discourse, in such a way that can build infrastructure for mechanisms that would inspire trust in all parts of society, and where broad agreements may be reached.

For many weeks we, a group of professionals, activists, and scholars of diverse Israeli backgrounds, have worked to form the framework presented here. This framework is the result of a strenuous and thoughtful effort to listen and to learn, both amongst ourselves, and in consultation with experts and intellectuals in Israel and abroad. We studied contemporary as well as historical models of constitution-writing around the world, both successes and failures, and conducted extensive discussions about the potential lessons for a similar Israeli effort.

As you will see in the following FAQ, we considered a wider range of possibilities than we were able to fit into our proposal. We did our best to draft a plan that would take into account multiple conceptual as well as practical aspects of selecting and operating a Constituent Assembly. However, other practical aspects have yet to be determined. Hopefully, future discussions of this framework, both in public and among decision makers, will explore these other aspects.