Bangladesh drops ‘besides Israel’ from passport, international ministry says no change in coverage in the direction of Tel Aviv

Bangladesh on Saturday introduced dropping of phrases “except Israel” within the new passport which was hailed by Israel as a “lift of decades-old travel ban”. But, Dhaka was fast to make clear that the choice to take away these phrases doesn’t quantity to vary in Bangladesh’s place in the direction of Israel, because it nonetheless doesn’t recognise Israel.Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen informed reporters in Dhaka on Sunday, “We have taken decision to drop “besides 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 mentioned: “This Passport is valid for all countries of the world except Israel”, however the authorities on Saturday determined to take away “except Israel” from the doc making it legitimate for your entire world.ALSO READ: How a lot did it price Palestinians and Israelis in 11-day fightEarlier, Deputy Director-General for Asia and the Pacific on the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs Gilad Cohen tweeted saying Bangladesh has eliminated journey 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 place on IsraelBangladesh international ministry, nevertheless, 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 additional learn.In a press launch, the Bangladesh international ministry mentioned: “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 international locations excepting Israel [sic]”.The statement added: “The elimination of the statement has been performed to take care of worldwide normal of Bangladeshi e-passports and doesn’t indicate any change of Bangladesh’s international coverage in the direction of the Middle East. The ban on journey of Bangladeshi passport holders to Israel stays unchanged. The Government of Bangladesh has not deviated from its place on Israel and Bangladesh stays agency on its longstanding place on this regard [sic]”.Senior journalist Masud Karim said, “I feel it’s [a] purely technical matter. There is not any political will of Bangladesh to ascertain ties with Israel at this second. No nation use[s] ‘besides Israel’ of their passport. It is just not [a] international coverage matter, however an administrative resolution by [the] residence ministry of Bangladesh. If it’s a international coverage matter, [the] residence [ministry] should talk about the matter with [the] international workplace. But there was no dialogue in any respect between [the] two ministries. Actually, passport is an identification. So, identification should be a normal 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 latest atrocities inflicted upon the civilians by the occupation forces of Israel in al-Aqsa mosque compound and at Gaza. Bangladesh reiterates its principled place in regards to the two-State Solution of the Palestine-Israel battle in mild of the UN resolutions recognizing pre-1967 borders and East Jerusalem because the capital of the State of Palestine [sic].”