JERUSALEM - Israeli troops yesterday laid siege to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Christianity's holiest site, even as tanks rolled into Nablus, effectively locking down almost every major Palestinian population centre in the West Bank.
After a six-day drive to dismantle Palestinian militant networks, Israel has occupied Nablus, Bethlehem, Tulkarem, Qalqilya, Jenin and Ramallah -- cities turned over to the Palestinians after the Oslo peace accords of 1993.
There were frequent gun battles in the towns and cities and, for a second day, Israeli troops took up positions outside the Church of the Nativity -- believed by Christians to be where Jesus was born -- as dozens of Palestinian fighters took refuge inside.
Inside the church, Palestinian fighters sprawled across pews as civilians and clergy also sought shelter from the Israeli soldiers outside.
Ibrahim Abayat, a leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, which has claimed responsibility for suicide bombings and shooting attacks, said by telephone: "The situation is very difficult here. The tanks and armoured personnel carriers are in Manger Square. The soldiers are besieging the church. We have wounded inside the church."
Father Ibrahim Faltaf, a Roman Catholic priest at the church, said: "I hear the shooting around the church. We are trying to put an end to it. Perhaps there is negotiation. I cannot speak any longer. This is a dangerous place and I have to leave."
The explosive situation at the church has become the focus of the conflict in the Holy Land.
Israeli Defence Forces accused the Palestinians of intentionally desecrating the shrine, as well as other churches where they had taken shelter.
"I have no doubt that the main idea of hiding there is to provoke the IDF soldiers into firing on the church," said Brigadier-General Ron Kitri, an army spokesman.
Gen. Kitri said Israeli soldiers were not firing at any of the three churches where Palestinian fighters had taken refuge. He also could not confirm that the Palestinians had fired from any of the churches, saying only that there had been shooting nearby.
"It is complicated because it is a sacred place and we do not want to use live ammunition.
"The orders are not to shoot. We do not shoot at holy places," he said, adding that the IDF was holding talks with Bethlehem's Mayor to try to work out a peaceful solution.
Israeli troops did enter the Catholic convent of Santa Maria yesterday after the priests and nuns inside said that everyone had been evacuated. The soldiers searched the building thoroughly, finding the corpse of a handcuffed Palestinian man in one of the rooms.
The Vatican strongly condemned Israel's sweep through Palestinian cities.
The Vatican said in a statement that the Pope "rejects unjust conditions and humiliations imposed on the Palestinian people, as well as the reprisals and revenge attacks which do nothing but feed the sense of frustration and hatred."
Jerusalem's Latin Patriarch Michel Sabah, head of the Roman Catholic Church in the region, said as long as the Palestinians had put down their weapons they would be granted the traditional right of sanctuary within the church.
In a stymied bid to lift the siege of Bethlehem, which has been surrounded by Israeli forces, 13 heads of Christian churches in Jerusalem walked up to a checkpoint in Bethlehem singing hymns before being turned away by Israeli soldiers.
Seven British peace protesters from the International Solidarity Movement, who were in Bethlehem to monitor the Israeli operation, were rescued by British diplomats yesterday after it became clear the intense fighting made it too dangerous to stay.
Palestinian ambulances were allowed to enter the city for the first time in days, picking up at least 11 bodies.
While much of the world's attention was directed at Bethlehem, Israeli forces continued to reoccupy Palestinian cities, part of a strategy of locking down each large centre in the occupied territories and hunting down anyone suspected of aiding the suicide bombers who have killed hundreds of Israelis and terrorized the rest of the country.
IDF forces yesterday entered Jenin and Salfit and a village near Hebron.
The most intense fighting was in Jenin, where Israel directed its armored thrust at a refugee camp and came under a counter-assault by Palestinians using guns, grenades and homemade bombs.
Nablus, a city of 180,000 where more than 100 tanks had been gathering for days, was also invaded.
Nablus had been the only major West Bank city not to have been reoccupied.
Tanks and armoured vehicles entered Nablus, the biggest city in the West Bank, after dark last night, firing shells and heavy machine guns at those who tried to block their advance with obstacles and gunfire.
Only two major West Bank towns, Hebron and Jericho, were still under Palestinian control late yesterday.
One Israeli solder and 12 Palestinians were reported killed yesterday. A civilian woman and a 13-year-old boy were also killed in the Jenin area, according to Palestinian security sources.
Fighting also continued in Ramallah, where Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, remains in his besieged compound.
Three British students escaped Ramallah and fled to the safety of Jerusalem.
A march by about 3,000 peace activists to try and force a roadblock outside the city was swiftly dispersed by troops and police officers using tear gas and batons.
Most Palestinian cities had been given some form of self-rule over the past decade during the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, now essentially defunct.
Israel insists it is not reoccupying the cities, but simply rooting out terrorists while doing its best to spare the civilian population.
The Israelis accuse Mr. Arafat of refusing to halt the suicide bombings, which have been conducted by four organizations, some linked to him.
In the first move in the Gaza Strip, Gen. Kitri said Israeli forces were scouting along the fence that separates the territory from Israel proper, checking to see if Palestinian fighters had built tunnels to infiltrate Israel. One Palestinian was shot as he tried to enter a local kibbutz.
The fence has prevented any suicide bombers from penetrating Israel, reserving most of Israel's attention on the porous border between Israel and the West Bank.
But the threat of a two-front war loomed elsewhere. Hezbollah guerrillas launched another anti-tank rocket at northern Israel from neighbouring Lebanon yesterday, the second such attack in two days.
Israel warned the Lebanese government and its Syrian backers to take control of the lawless region along the border or face the consequences.
"We shall defend the border," Gen Kitri said.
In Israel, the conflict in the West Bank and the rash of suicide bombings cast a pall over what is normally a joyous day marking the end of the Passover holiday.
Jerusalem's usually crowded pedestrian mall was almost empty, the few civilians easily outnumbered by rifle-toting policemen and soldiers warily screening passersby looking for a potential bomb carrier.
"This should be our Piccadilly Circus or Times Square," said an olive-clad soldier, his automatic rifle slung over his back as he chewed on a falafel.
"It makes me really sad to see it this way."