The times of inactivity on the refugee question, a period when the PLO and its political organizations had shelved this central aspect of the Palestinian question, seem past: stirred by the prospect of losing their internationally recognized rights in the framework of the Oslo negotiations, Palestinian refugees everywhere have begun to organize themselves in order to give voice to their demands. Triggered by these new refugee initiatives in the diaspora (e.g. “Conference for Return and Self Determination” launched by Palestinian and Arab intellectuals in the US and Arab world) on the one hand and by successful progress of the independent refugee campaign of the Union of Youth Centers in the West Bank on the other, the PLO and the Palestinian Authority (PA) set out to establish their own initiatives.  

While the refugees in the West Bank were busy preparing their first popular conference, Abdallah Hourani (refugee, PLO functionary and recent returnee to Gaza) took office as Arafat’s Advisor on Refugee Affairs and was featured as the new “Minister of Refugees” by the Palestinian press. In July 1996, Hourani issued a call for the “Month of the Camps” in Gaza, organized workshops in six Gaza refugee camps and aimed to establish a network of local refugee committees under his leadership. In press statements he declared that his major aim was to involve the refugee community, to rebuild trust and to give voice to its demands. This initiative was conducted without coordination with the independent refugee campaign in the West Bank. However, the Youth Centers in the Gaza Strip, which are not members in the West Bank Union, joined Hourani’s campaign. An all-Gaza popular refugee conference to be held in one of the Gaza refugee camps was scheduled for 7 September, one week before the first popular refugee conference in Bethlehem.  
In August, PA president and PLO chairman Arafat revived the Committee of Expatriates and Refugees already existent in the framework of the PLO Executive Committee, by appointing As’ad Abdel Rahman (PLO Executive Committee member, Director General of the Abdel Hamid Shoman Cultural Center/Amman) as its new head. This committee is in charge of following up the refugee issue for the PLO. Among the additional new members recruited were mainly PLO and PA officials, e.g. three PA negotiators, Abdel Fatah Ghanem, Hassan Asfour, Walid Zaqout and the elected representative Jamal Shati (Palestinian Legislative Council/Refugee Subcommittee, Head of the Union of Youth Centers).  

Refugee grass-roots activists in the West Bank worried about the possible official interference in their popular campaign. Interestingly enough, however, the first open conflict arose between the two new official initiatives themselves:  
In August 1996, the Palestinian press issued statements declaring that Abdallah Hourani was not a “Minister of Refugees” but merely an advisor on refugee affairs to Arafat. A letter sent by the PA Presidential Office to Abdallah Hourani (25/8/96) made clear that,  
the cabinet decided that all matters related to the refugees and displaced persons will be handled by the Committee for Expatriates and Refugees headed by Dr. As’ad Abdel Rahman, in addition to his responsibilities for the final status negotiations on refugees and displaced persons. The duty of brother Abdallah Hourani is to advise the Executive Committee on these matters; there are no duties outside the framework of the Expatriates Committee. This decision must be disseminated among all official institutions as well as among the Palestinian, Arab and foreign media.”  
However, since Hourani had already established his Gaza refugee initiative on the basis of cooperation with the local youth centers, he was forced to continue the campaign in order not to destroy the refugees’ trust gained just recently. Consequently, Hourani was informed a second time that, “... based on instructions by the President, all arrangements for the refugee conference scheduled for September 7 must be revoked, and Dr. As’ad Abdel Rahman, member of the Executive Committee, head of the Expatriates Committee, and responsible for the file of refugees and displaced persons, is the one to proceed with the preparations through the relevant committees so as to hold the refugee conference on 14 September 1996, in the hall of the PNC in Gaza, under the sponsorship of the President. Please note and take the necessary steps.” [Presidential Office, 2/9/1996]  

At that point Abdallah Hourani approached the independent refugee initiative in the West Bank, asking for formal cooperation. He denied that he too was an appointed member of the PLO Expatriate Committee, and insisted on the independent and popular character of the Gaza refugee campaign. However, he was unable to protect his position and consequently disappeared from the scene. The Gaza refugee conference was finally held on 17 September 1996 as planned by the PA; Abdallah Hourani was not among the speakers.  
The activists of the popular refugee campaign in the West Bank succeeded to avoid a similar conflict by approaching the PA, emphasizing their determination to continue refugee mobilization on an independent basis. In a series of meetings on behalf of the West Bank refugee initiative, Jamal Shati (PLC Refugee Subcommittee, Head of the Union of Youth Centers in the West Bank) obtained - for the time being - green light for their popular and independent campaign from the Palestinian authorities.  

The first popular refugee conference, organized by the Bethlehem Preparatory Committee in cooperation with the Union of Youth Centers in Deheishe Refugee Camp on 13 September 1996, was an overwhelming success. More than 600 refugees from the Bethlehem area and refugee activists from all over the West Bank gathered for four hours in the yard of Deheishe Girls’ School (an UNRWA-run school explicitly declared “ not an UNRWA installation for the duration of this meeting” by April Glaspie, Headquarters Coordinator of Operations, West Bank and Gaza).  
Representatives of the Bethlehem Preparatory Committee opened the event by explaining the process of mobilization established by the 1995 refugee conference in al Far’ah [see ARTICLE 74/15], and by emphasizing the role of the Bethlehem conference as a model for future independent refugee organizing in other West Bank areas and in the Palestinian diaspora. They were followed by greeting addresses extended to the participants by the representatives of the political parties, professional unions and a speaker of the Committee of the Uprooted active with the 1948 borders.  
The only PA official addressing the conference was As’ad Abdel Rahman (PLO Expatriates Committee) who spoke on behalf of the PLO. He expressed his agreement with all major recommendations drafted by the Preparatory Committee [see below] and promised to promote them in the framework of the PLO. This includes recommendations, such as the call on the PA to reconsider its strategies in negotiations with Israel, the demand to transfer the refugee file to a specialized team committed to work for the right of return, the total rejection of the transfer of UNRWA services to the PA and the principle that future refugee compensation must not be accepted as a substitute for the right of return. PLC representative Jamal Shati raised the important role of the PLO as an organizational umbrella for the scattered Palestinian refugees, demanded a clear separation by donor countries between grants to the PA and state authorities on one hand and grants provided to UNRWA on the other hand, in order to counter the silent integration of the refugees. He promised that the PLC will function as a watch dog over the refugee issue, so as to guarantee that the red line of the right of return will not be crossed.  
The major part of the conference was then dedicated to a public discussion of the draft recommendations submitted by the Preparatory Committee. Public participation was exemplary, comments were concrete and, while expressing a basic approval of the draft, all amendments suggested emphasized the refugees’ support of the concept of a strong and independent refugee lobby able to confront both PA and PLO policies when necessary.  

The conference concluded with the compilation of a list of 93 candidates for the Bethlehem Refugee Council to replace the old Preparatory Committee. The new permanent Council composed of 49 members will then elect a 15 member “bureau” (steering committee), and both bodies are authorized to implement the recommendations of the popular conference, to establish the necessary work relations with the PA and the PLO, as well as with UNRWA, to establish contacts with refugee initiatives in Palestine and in the diaspora, and to facilitate there the formation of similar popular conferences and refugee councils.  
As the elections of the permanent Refugee Council and its “bureau” have not yet been completed, it is still too early to judge whether the new elected bodies will be able to meet the numerous challenges on the way to a broad popular refugee movement, which will have to be defended from undue interference both by official forces (PA, Arab and foreign governments) and by political party functionaries who are unwilling to relinquish their control over popular initiatives.