The two West Bank congregations had formerly been subjected to bans and literature seizures. The clergy of Jerusalem and Bethlehem had pressured Jordan’s government in Amman to place these restrictions on Jehovah’s Witnesses. But these dignitaries cannot influence the Israeli civil or military authorities, and, as a result, we have had freedom of assembly and activity on the West Bank since 1967.

Most of Israel’s Witnesses live near the cities where the congregations are located​—in Haifa and Tel Aviv, and on the West Bank, in Ramallah and Beit Jala/​Bethlehem.