The tens of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza who have been living abroad for decades are looking forward to returning — but are not sure if they are ready to go back for good.

Wafa’a Abdel Rahman, a leading Gaza activist living in the West Bank, told Al-Monitor that she is cautiously optimistic about the Palestinian reconciliation and is excited to visit. “We can now say that we have reached at least an agreement to manage the division, but it will take a couple of years for people to be sure that we are on the right track in Gaza.”

After years of broken promises, it appears that the Islamic Hamas movement has accepted the conditions of the Ramallah government to reunite both West Bank and Gaza into one entity, one law and one government.

Abdel Rahman, who manages Filastiniyat, a women-led nongovernmental organization in Ramallah, says that the approximately 50,000 Palestinians from Gaza living in the West Bank will be among the first to visit the Strip, but that Israel will have to ease the permit protocols. She noted, “Going to Gaza from the West Bank is not a Palestinian issue. Unfortunately, we are still under occupation and the occupiers are the ones who regulate our lives and our ability to travel, including between the West Bank and Gaza.”