The Union of Youth Centers (UYC), operating under the umbrella of UNRWA in 16 West Bank refugee camps since 1992, was the first to take the initiative towards building an independent and authentic refugee campaign to defend refugee rights in the 1967 occupied Palestinian territories. Refugee, activists of the UYC, who in the past worked exclusively to improve social and cultural services in the camps, were the main organizers of the first refugee conference held on the premises of the former Israeli prison al Far’ah on December 12, 1995. 

The final statement issued by the participants reconfirmed the right of return as the major demand of the refugee community, denounced all local and international attempts of refugee resettlement in the Arab host countries (including in the PA administered areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip) and criticized the cut-backs in UNRWA social and health services. 
The importance of the Far’ah Conference, however, lies in the fact that it led to the approval of an organizational program for a broad refugee campaign which is to start in the refugee camps of Palestine and then to connect with Palestinian refugee initiatives throughout the Arab world. In order to guarantee the independence of this campaign and in order to escape the restrictive framework of UNRWA, the Conference called for the election of local refugee committees in all areas of Palestine. These committees should prepare and mobilize for local refugee conferences to be followed by a national refugee conference in 1996. 
The actual establishment of these local refugee committees was delayed, first due to the public mobilization around the January 20 Palestinian elections and then by the total break down of movement and communication owing to the Israeli-imposed closure of Palestinian communities in the aftermath of the Hamas operations in Israel. However, on 30 March 1996, refugee activists of the Bethlehem District succeeded in implementing the organizational recommendations of the Far’ah Conference. In a large public meeting attended by approximately 150 refugees and several representatives of NGOs, the first local preparatory committee composed of 15 representatives of the refugee community was elected. This preparatory committee was mandated to organize the first local refugee conference in the Bethlehem district and to assist in the establishment of similar committees in other areas of 1967 occupied Palestine. 
The future success of this promising initiative will depend on its ability to keep its organizational independence, on the ability of additional refugee communities to follow the example set in Bethlehem and on the capacity of NGOs and experts to join in and to contribute to this campaign. [Source: UYC, Preparatory Refugee Committee/Bethlehem]