JERUSALEM — The situation has deteriorated for minority Christians living in the Palestinian territories since the Islamist organization Hamas took control of the Palestinian legislature, according to a Roman Catholic charity report. 
 
     “Life has turned ‘from bad to worse’ since a Palestinian election in January which Hamas won,” the Aid to the Church in Need charity published in May 2 report based on accounts from Palestinians living in Bethlehem, the city in which Jesus was born in the area on the West Bank (of the River Jordan). 
 
     “With a squeeze on public finances and frequent problems traveling to Jerusalem where many Palestinians work and shop, the crisis for the area’s about 150,000 Christians has deepened, especially with increased intolerance to non-Muslims,” the report says. 
 
     “It has become awful living here,” the charity quoted Bethlehem gift shop owner Victor Tabash as saying. “We do not believe what is happening. Since the election, things have been getting worse and worse,” Tabash added. 
 
     Hamas has said it will not impose strict Islamic law, or Sharia, in the Palestinian territories, a move seen as an attempt to ease the concern of Christians and secular Palestinians.  
 
     But since Hamas’ election there has been a spate of violence against Christians, including arson attacks against a parish school in the West Bank city of Bethlehem and other violent incidents against churches and Christian charities. It is not known whether the culprits are Palestinian gangs opposed to Hamas or supporters of the movement. 
 
     The violence has highlighted the plight of Christians in the Holy Land whose numbers have dwindled over the past century as more and more emigrate for better lives abroad rather than stay in a land inflicted with economic, political and security problems.  
 
     The Aid to the Church in Need charity, which operates under the authority of the Vatican, supports persecuted and poverty-stricken Christians around the world. It runs a program selling West Bank handicrafts to generate funds for local Christians. Products that are sold include hand-made olive wood devotional items including crucifixes, cribs and rosaries.