Dhaka/Jerusalem:
Bangladesh has announced to lift a decades-extended travel ban to Israel, a move welcomed by the Jewish state which referred to as upon Dhaka to establish diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv for the advantage of the people today of the two nations.
Bangladeshi passports earlier had a clause written on them that stated “This Passport is valid for all countries of the world except Israel”, but the government on Saturday decided to take away “except Israel” from the document generating it valid for the whole world.
Israel has welcomed Bangladesh’s selection to take away the travel ban.
“Great news! #Bangladesh has removed the travel ban to Israel. This is a welcome step & I call on the Bangladeshi government to move forward and establish diplomatic ties with #Israel so both our peoples could benefit & prosper,” Deputy Director General at Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Gilad Cohen tweeted.
Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal says they are bringing the alterations to make sure that the passports meet the “international standards”.
In the Israel-Palestine conflict of eight decades, Bangladesh has all along stridently supported the Palestinians” trigger. It has by no means recognised the existence of Israel, and so the two nations do not have diplomatic relations.
Mr Kamal stated that the move “does not mean that there has been a change in Bangladesh’s position” with regards to Israel.
Israel has normalised its ties with the Muslim-majority UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan amongst September and December of 2020.