First population registration in מדינת ישראל MEDINAT YISRAʾEL.

The Central Bureau of Statistics describes two stages. Enumerators first visited homes and completed questionnaires. During a seven-hour curfew on November 8, they returned to correct the records, collect photographs and give residents slips carrying identification numbers. The curfew reduced duplicate counting and made residents available to enumerators. ¹

Klir’s November 9 entry places the curfew from 17:00 until midnight on the previous night. It reports 14,000 enumerators and 500 registration stations in areas of יהודים YEHUDIM and 60 in Arab areas. These staffing figures remain attributed pending the original administrative report. ²

In his November 17 diary, דוד בן-גוריון DAVID BEN-GURION recorded preliminary statistical information: 713,000 יהודים YEHUDIM and 69,000 other residents, totaling 782,000, for the government’s jurisdiction before October 14. That scope qualification belongs with the number. The old article’s headline of 712,000 יהודים YEHUDIM did not preserve this source or its territorial boundary. ³

The official 2021 statistical atlas explains:

non-Jews were not registered in entire regions (such as the Western Galilee, the Negev) owing to the war. ⁴

The atlas also distinguishes later supplements and incomplete Bedouin registration. KKL’s commemorative page gives 843,000 residents. That figure is not silently substituted for the diary’s preliminary, geographically limited result; its statistical reference date and coverage require reconciliation. ⁵

The register supported state administration and election planning, giving residents a durable identification framework. Registration, electoral eligibility, citizenship and permission to return were nevertheless different legal categories. Refugees outside the governing territory and incompletely enumerated communities did not become registered merely because the state organized an exercise. ⁶

Klir’s November 11 entry reproduces the argument that voters must actually reside within the governing territory on election day, also excluding absent prisoners of war and detainees in Cyprus. The passage records a political proposal; the final regulations and legislative minutes are needed to establish the enacted rule. ⁷

1948-11-08 is the official civil registration date. ⁸ The article retains its existing verified civil-day placement at ו׳ בחשוון ה׳תש״ט 6th 𝑜𝑓 Ḥeŝvan, AM 5709, the daytime conversion with Hebcal. The curfew stage ran from 17:00 to midnight according to Klir and KKL and extended into ז׳ בחשוון ה׳תש״ט 7th 𝑜𝑓 Ḥeŝvan, AM 5709 after sunset. ^{9 10} The retained route dates the civil-day exercise, not every nighttime enumeration. Preparatory visits preceded it and preliminary results were recorded on November 17; neither is a second November 8 census.

• What does the pre-October 14 territorial qualification change about the preliminary count?
• How can one civil registration day include work on two Hebrew dates?
• Which records distinguish registration from the final legal rules for voting?