Bangladesh drops 'except Israel' from passport, foreign ministry says no change in policy towards Tel Aviv

While dropping of words "except Israel" in the new passport seemed like Bangladesh has lifted the decades-old travel ban on Israel, the country has clarified that irrespective of new e-passports, "Bangladesh did not change position on Israel including travel ban."

Bangladesh on Saturday announced dropping of words "except Israel" in the new passport which was hailed by Israel as a "lift of decades-old travel ban". But, Dhaka was quick to clarify that the decision to remove those words does not amount to change in Bangladesh's position towards Israel, as it still does not recognise Israel.

Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen told reporters in Dhaka on Sunday, "We have taken decision to drop "except Israel" from passport six months ago when we introduced e-passport. It is for standardisation of our passport. But our foreign policy will remain the same towards Israel. We are not going to establish our ties with Israel. We support the struggle of the people of Palestine. We also support two-state solutions. So, our foreign policy will remain unchanged."

Bangladeshi passports earlier had a clause written on them that said: "This Passport is valid for all countries of the world except Israel", but the government on Saturday decided to remove "except Israel" from the document making it valid for the entire world.

Earlier, Deputy Director-General for Asia and the Pacific at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs Gilad Cohen tweeted saying Bangladesh has removed travel ban to Israel.

"Great news! Bangladesh has removed travel ban to Israel. This is a welcome step and I call on the Bangladeshi government to move forward and establish diplomatic ties with Israel so both our peoples could benefit and prosper," he tweeted.

Bangladesh clarifies position on Israel

Bangladesh foreign ministry, however, on Sunday clarified in a tweet that "irrespective of new e-passports, Bangladesh did not change position on Israel including travel ban."

"Bangladesh condemned atrocities to Palestinians, and reiterates its principled position concerning the two-state solution of #Palestine-#Israel conflict in light of UN resolutions," the tweet further read.

In a press release, the Bangladesh foreign ministry said: "The attention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recently been drawn to a twitter issued from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel welcoming removal of ban on travel to Israel on E-passports being issued by Bangladesh. The confusion appears to have emanated from the new booklets of E-passports which does not contain the observation "all countries excepting Israel [sic]".

The statement added: "The removal of the observation has been done to maintain international standard of Bangladeshi e-passports and does not imply any change of Bangladesh's foreign policy towards the Middle East. The ban on travel of Bangladeshi passport holders to Israel remains unchanged. The Government of Bangladesh has not deviated from its position on Israel and Bangladesh remains firm on its longstanding position in this regard [sic]".

Senior journalist Masud Karim said, "I think it is [a] purely technical matter. There is no political will of Bangladesh to establish ties with Israel at this moment. No country use[s] 'except Israel' in their passport. It is not [a] foreign policy matter, but an administrative decision by [the] home ministry of Bangladesh. If it is a foreign policy matter, [the] home [ministry] must discuss the matter with [the] foreign office. But there was no discussion at all between [the] two ministries. Actually, passport is an identity. So, identity must be a standard one."

This comes just as a truce has been in place since Thursday between Israel and Palestine after an 11-day deadly battle that claimed a lot of Palestinian lives in the Gaza Strip.

The statement also added: "The Government of Bangladesh has condemned the recent atrocities inflicted upon the civilians by the occupation forces of Israel in al-Aqsa mosque compound and at Gaza. Bangladesh reiterates its principled position concerning the two-State Solution of the Palestine-Israel conflict in light of the UN resolutions recognizing pre-1967 borders and East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine [sic]."

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