A few months ago, a campaign was launched in Palestinian refugee camps calling for mass emigration from Lebanon. The campaign organizers were exploiting the poor living situation of Palestinian refugees in the country for additional impetus. They took advantage of the deprivation of Palestinians from their social and human rights to impart legitimacy on their campaign.

Palestinians in Lebanon are denied their most basic human and social rights. They are prohibited from working in 72 occupations, as well as from owning real estate. These appalling conditions allowed the campaign to reach every sector in the camps and find fertile ground in young people facing all sorts of hardships.

According to statistics, two new coffee shops filled with unemployed young men are opening every month. Tyre-based Burj al-Shamali camp alone has 23 such establishments.

These reasons, and the hope for a better life outside Lebanon, encouraged some young people to participate heavily in the campaign's sit-ins and demonstrations. At the beginning, Palestinian faction officials did not take the calls seriously. Many believed it would be just another event on Facebook, which would fizzle out soon.

However, after seeing the magnitude of participation in demonstrations, which took place in the camps of North Lebanon and in Ain al-Hilweh [in Saida], faction officials began sounding the alarm. They began asking questions about who is behind the campaign and who funds it? Who are the young men in charge? Who encourages young people to emigrate?

All fingers are pointing to Mohammed Dahlan and his supporters in Lebanon. Palestinian factions, especially Fatah and the Palestinian embassy, started to mobilize their members to confront the campaign. They categorically and completely rejected the calls for emigration.

"This will contribute to eliminating the right of return," a Fatah official told Al-Akhbar. The statement might seem "hollow" at first glance. Faction officials are used to repeating it at every occasion. However, at this particular time, the right of return is in real danger, especially in light of the leaks from US Secretary of State John Kerry's plan to put an end to the refugee issue.

Due to the threat this campaign poses to the right of return, Palestinian factions decided on a strong confrontation, in a similar manner and through young people also. Next Thursday, the factions will be holding a press conference at the Press Syndicate to declare the launching of a campaign called "Shababona" [our youth].

The counter-campaign will be a coalition of Palestinian youth and student organizations in Lebanon to raise awareness among young people, insisting on the right of return and rejecting mass emigration from the camps.

"Individuals have the right to a better life. They also have the right to think about leaving the country and go anywhere that treats them better," a senior official in the Coalition of Palestinian Forces said. "We cannot oppose individual immigration. But if there is a clear call for mass emigration from the camps, this means there are Palestinian sides aiding [Kerry] to implement his plan to kill the refugee issue."

Along with the youth counter campaign, Palestinian faction officials will be doing their political work. A few weeks ago, they held a meeting at the Palestinian embassy. The first point on the agenda was how to confront the campaign calling for emigration from Lebanon. Meeting participants agreed to expand their work on various levels.

Politically, they decided to "communicate with Lebanese state officials to improve the situation of refugees in the camps and adopt their social rights, because the dire situation contributes to the spread of such ideas," according to an official in the coalition. "We are waiting for the government to be ratified to introduce our demands, since the Lebanese state shares the responsibility for the situation."

The factions will also try to reduce Dahlan's influence on Palestinian camps in Lebanon. "The projects launched by his his wife Jalila Dahlan and the money spent on development projects in the camps contributed to luring young Palestinians," according to an official in the Coalition of Palestinian Forces. "Just like they attracted young Palestinians through paying symbolic sums of money in the recently formed youth gatherings, we will also try to find jobs for these young people, so they won't have to rely on Dahlan's money."

Follow Qassem Qassem on Twitter: @QassemsQassem