Nazareth, Israel- Pilgrims shed tears of frustration yesterday as the gates of chuches across the Holy Land were locked by church leaders attempting to block plans by Muslims to build a mosque near a Christian shrine.

The two-day, Vatican backed closure highlights the increasingly volatile relations between Christians and Muslims, as well as Israel's ambiguous- some claim politicaly tainted- role as mediator.

The dispute also has spilled over into the Mideast peace talks with Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat backing the Christians in Nazareth in hopes they will support him when he negotiates the future of Jerusalem with the Israelites.

Saudi Arabia, the guardian of Islam's holiest shrines, supported Arafat's efforts, offering to pay for a new mosque at an alternate pot in Nazareth, away from the Basilica of the Annunciation, to aviod friction.

The church closures, just weeks before Christmas, left many pilgrims in tears or complaining. Some endorsed the protest, while others said Christians should set examples of tolerance and not block construction of the mosque.

"Nazareth should be a city for everyone," aid Jozeph Wietsiers, 54, a Roman Catholic who had walked more than 2,400 miles since May on a pilgrimage from his hometown in Oss, Holland, only to find the basilica closed.

"It's our Jesus. We want to see the place where he was," German tourist Renate Borchers said outside the locked basilica.

But the highest Roman Catholic authority in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Michl Sabbah, said the Christians, a tiny minority of about 100,000 had to take a stand. "We closed the churches so the world can hear, and the world did," Sabbah told a news conference in Jerusalem.

The dispute is uncharacteristic of Israel's Christians, who usually kep a low profile to aviod friction with Muslims. Sabbah hinted that Pope John Paul II's visit to Israel and teh Palestinian areas, set for March, could still be called off if the Nazareth dispute was not resolved.

"A mosque and a church are both houses of God. To lock a house of God is a shame," Ahmed Abu Nawaf, a Muslim religious official in Nazareth, said at the construction lot where the devout knelt in prayer on carpets.

The argument began two years ago, when the city's Christian mayor, Ramez Jeraisi, announced plans to build a tourist plaza on a half-acre plot outside the basilica to make the congested, noisy downtown more appealing to millenium visitors.

The city's Islamic movement said some of the land was Muslim-owned and set up a protest tent on the lot. In a compromise brokered by the Israeli government, the mosque was to be built on one-third of the land, the plaza on the remainder.

Jeraisi reluctantly accepted the deal, saying he wanted to avoid more strife but was overruled by Roman Catholic, Armenian and Greek Orthodox patriarchs who said a mosque near the church was unacceptable.

Yesterday, a Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, said the Holy See "clearly supports" the church closures, but stressed the decision was made by the various local authorities in charge of the churches.

Churches closed across the Holy Land, including Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Galilee. Some neighborhood churches stayed open.