Back in Jenin, Refugees Hope to Find Survivors

JENIN REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank, April 17 — Thousands of Palestinians poured back into this demolished refugee camp this afternoon when Israeli forces briefly seemed to have withdrawn. Under a blazing sun, they began clawing at mounds of rubble with backhoes, shovels and their bare hands.

Some searched for people they thought might be buried alive beneath buildings flattened by Israeli bulldozers. Others simply hoped to bring dignity to the dead.

Among them was Muhammad Abu Khurj, 75, who had returned to look for the remains of his sister, who had been killed in their house on April 5 in an Israeli missile attack. He himself had been ordered to leave the camp two days later by Israeli troops. Now he walked into his bullet-pocked home and forced his aged legs up four flights of stairs. Entering a room on the top floor, he looked panicked.

"They moved her! They moved her!" he said. "Do you see her blood?" he said, frantically pointing at the blood stain. "This is her blood!"

Then he spotted something in the corner and lifted up a piece of carpet covering it. Underneath was the body of a woman. Her curly gray hair teemed with maggots. Mr. Khurj left the room in silence.