BETHLEHEM SHRINE CLOSED TO FAITHFUL.(MAIN)

Byline: IBRAHIM HAZBOUN Associated Press

BETHLEHEM, West Bank -- On the first Sunday since Israel reoccupied Bethlehem, soldiers barred Christians from worshipping at the Church of the Nativity, one of Christianity's most sacred shrines. Soldiers in another part of the West Bank searched four mosques for suspected militants.

There were no signs that the Israelis were near an end to the operation in the biblical town, despite a State Department call for soldiers to leave as soon as possible, with Christmas just a month away. Christian tradition holds that Jesus was born in a grotto under the Bethlehem church.

Israeli forces rolled into Bethlehem, in …