Ben Wedeman: Reporters can't get near church

Wedeman

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (CNN) -- Israel consolidated its control of the West Bank on Thursday, and denied a claim that its forces had attacked the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem -- the site said to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ.

A witness who spoke to CNN from the church said the Israeli military had blown the southern door off the church, where as many as 200 Palestinians were said to be seeking refuge. Israeli government spokesman Ra'anan Gissin called the assertion "baseless lies." He said Israeli forces had surrounded the church, but had not attacked it.

CNN Correspondent Ben Wedeman is near the church and filed this report:

WEDEMAN: It is still unclear what really happened inside the Church of the Nativity. We weren't able to get close enough to see. Now we did speak with the Israeli military spokesman and we told them as long as we were allowed to get to -- not necessarily the Church of the Nativity which is quite dangerous -- but to get to Manger Square, which is quite large, we would be able to see with our own eyes and settle this once and for all to see whether this event -- this blast of one of the doors at the church -- occurred or not. But they said we were not allowed to go. We could not get any closer.

They said it was dangerous, which I would agree with them it is dangerous, and it's a closed military area and we were advised to vacate. So we are really unable at this point to provide any independent verification of what happened at the Church of the Nativity this morning.

There was a case here in Bethlehem of another church where allegedly somewhere between 60 and 80 Palestinian gunmen are holed up along with the priest and nuns who were in there. Now that was last night.

Surprisingly, the Israeli army came out with a statement last night in which it said they had gained control of the area but those 60 to 80 Palestinian gunmen had disappeared -- escaped. Now how that can occur, I honestly don't know, but obviously the Palestinians know this town better than the Israelis. They know the alleys, they know the ins and outs and it certainly is possible that some of them have been able to escape.

This is the first time, to the best of my knowledge, that something like this has occurred here. We've been told by Palestinians who recall back during the 1967 war when this also was the scene of fighting between the Jordanian army -- which was here at the time -- and the Israeli army and that unarmed Palestinians did seek refuge in the Church of the Nativity and other churches as well.

This is not unusual. People do seek refuge. Now in the case of gunmen seeking refuge there, I think, to the best of my knowledge, this is the first time that has happened here.