The Government of Bangladesh has not deviated from its position on Israel and Bangladesh remains firm on its longstanding position in this regard, the foreign ministry said on Sunday.
The ban on travel of Bangladeshi passport holders to Israel remains unchanged, said a statement by the ministry following speculations that Bangladesh might change its policy over Israel.
The speculations resulted from the removal of the line from the e-passport book that said “all countries excepting Israel”.
“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 the ban on travel to Israel on e-passports being issued by Bangladesh,” the statement said.
It further added, “The confusion appears to have emanated from the new booklets of e-passports which do not contain the observation “all countries excepting Israel”.
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen also said on Sunday that the removal of the observation has been done to maintain the international standard of Bangladeshi e-passports and does not imply any change of Bangladesh’s foreign policy towards the Middle East.
Meanwhile, the foreign ministry said the Government of Bangladesh has condemned the recent atrocities inflicted upon the civilians by the occupation forces of Israel in the 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 recognising pre-1967 borders and East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine,” said the statement.
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