A number of national and international media outlets, including the The Jerusalem Post have reported that Bangladesh government has lifted the travel ban to the State of Israel. 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".
Responding to the news report, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Sunday said "There has been no change in Bangladesh's position towards Israel as it still does not recognise Israel. "
However, he said removing the words "except Israel" in the new passport does not mean that there has been a change in Bangladesh's position.
The foreign minister also said the home ministry reviewed many passports of other countries around six months ago when new passports were ordered for Bangladesh. He said no passport in the world contains such words. "The changes have been made to maintain global standards," he added.
Major General Md Ayub Chowdhury, Director General of Department of Immigration and Passport, also stated "Bangladesh has dropped the two words, 'except Israel', from the passport as per government decision to maintain international standard". It has no link with the country's diplomatic relations with any other country, he added.
From now on, the new electronic passports or e-passports will mention: "This passport is valid for all countries of the world".
Since the liberation of the country in 1971 Bangladesh imposed travel ban to Israel as an illegal state for its occupation of Palestine and to South Africa for its apartheid state policy. In the passport it was written "this passport is valid for all countries of the world except Israel and South Africa." After South Africa became democratic under Nelson Mandela the restriction for South Africa was lifted.
But Israel has not withdrawn from its occupation of Palestine despite global demand, particularly from the Muslim countries. Moreover the recent Israeli agression on Gaza killing more than 200 Palestinians including about 70 children whipped up serious protests fromm the OIC member countries, including Bangladesh.
Many in the country have been raising questions and concerns whether the lifting of the restirction of the travel ban to Israel is an indication of any major shift of Bangladesh's stand on Israel.
Bangladesh is yet to accord diplomatic recognition to Israel. But some Muslim countries in the Middle East, like Jordan, UAE, Egypt, have recognised Israel and established diplomatic relations and air communication with Tel Aviv. But majority of the Muslim countries have been pursuing policy not to recognise the state of Israel.
Maj Gen Md Ayub Chowdhury, Director General of Department of Immigration and Passport said on Sunday that Bangladesh has dropped the two words, 'except Israel,' from the passport, as per government decision to maintain international standards, said.
From now on, the new electronic passports or e-passports will mention: "This passport is valid for all countries of the world."
"It has no link with the country's diplomatic relations with any other country," the DG said.
A passport carries someone's identity, he said, adding that 'your passport is used for confirmation of your identity when you go abroad.'
"You can travel anywhere if you have visa of that country," he said.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry in a statement on Sunday has said the government of Bangladesh has not deviated from its position on Israel and Bangladesh remains firm on its longstanding position in this regard. "The ban on travel of Bangladeshi passport holders to Israel remains unchanged," the statement asserted.
"The attention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recently been drawn to a tweet issued from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel welcoming removal of a 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 do not contain the observation "all countries accepting Israel." The removal of the observation has been done to maintain international standards 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," it reads.
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, the statement adds.
