Bangladesh's Diplomacy: e-Passport and Israel

The decision of removing the "except Israel" clause from the e-passport, which prevented Bangladeshi nationals from visiting Israel, was taken a year ago and in the light of that decision at least one lakh passports have already been issued. It is understood that the government has maintained considerable secrecy in making this decision. The people of Bangladesh or the media came to know about it only after the Israel Foreign Ministry's deputy director-general for Asia and the Pacific Gilad Cohen tweeted it. 

Attacks on innocent Palestinians and another round of Israeli occupation continued last month. At that time some news came in front of the people of Bangladesh. It was learned that a big change has been made in the e-passports provided by the Bangladesh government since Eid. It can be seen that from the time of independence till today, the first page of the passport issued by Bangladesh has always written 'this passport is valid for all countries of the world except Israel'; but the two words "except Israel" are currently being dropped from the newly issued e-passport. Initially, it was published on social media but later various local and foreign media published reports about it.

Govt. officials of various levels including the Home Minister and Foreign Minister of Bangladesh have given their views on these reports. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan has claimed that "relations with Israel remain as they were before." However, in order to maintain the international standard, we remove two words "except Israel" in the passport.'' Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen told the media, "Since Bangladesh did not recognize Israel, 'except Israel' is written in the passport. However, issuing passports is a matter for the Ministry of Home Affairs. So they will be able to say better about why these two words were dropped. However, Bangladesh has not yet recognized Israel."

Discussions on the issue could have stopped there; but it did not happen.

After the change in the Bangladeshi passport, it was seen that the Israeli authorities welcomed Bangladesh and expressed their opinion on Twitter on May 22. Gilad Cohen, deputy director-general for Asia and the Pacific with the Israeli Foreign Ministry, also welcomed the change and called on the Bangladeshi government to move forward and establish diplomatic ties with Israel.  

https://twitter.com/GiladCohen_/status/1396155072392933378

Meanwhile, the Palestinian ambassador to Dhaka has expressed disappointment over the incident. A journalist raised the question of whether it was the intention of Bangladesh to make anyone happy or to make anyone sad. However, in a statement issued on May 24, the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry said, "Bangladeshi passport holders are still banned from traveling to Israel. Bangladesh has not moved away from its position on Israel, and Bangladesh has remained steadfast in its long-standing position in this regard.'' Furthermore, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen warned in a recent program that legal action will be taken if any Bangladeshi citizen travels to Israel.

Based on these information, two big questions naturally arose in the minds of the public. First. Why did the Bangladesh government suddenly take the initiative to remove the words 'except Israel' from the passport? Even if the Home Minister talks about the international standard of passports, it cannot be acceptable. Because every state in the world is independent, sovereign and independent in determining its foreign policy. Therefore, it is not mandatory for Bangladesh to follow any other state on the pretext of 'international standards'. Moreover, in recent times, no such allegation has been heard at the international level against Bangladeshi passports that it seems that the 'international standard' is being disturbed due to those two words in the Bangladeshi passport. On the contrary, those two words were clearly declaring a 'core value' of Bangladesh's foreign policy. This core value has been the most unchanged political position of all governments since the birth of Bangladesh. By writing this in the passport, basically all the expatriate Bangladeshis as private representatives of the country were carrying the worldwide message that we Bangladeshis and our country have recognized occupying Jewish state Israel and we are on the side of the Palestinians.

It should be kept in mind that Bangladesh's position in favor of Palestinian rights is the 'core value' of Bangladesh's foreign policy and Bangladesh's position in this regard is clearer and unchanging than that of many Muslim countries in the world. Immediately after independence, Israel recognized Bangladesh. And it has been seen at different times that this country is very interested in gaining friendship with Bangladesh; But Bangladesh did not accept that recognition very deliberately, and stood up for Palestine. Under Bangabandhu's leadership, Bangladesh's policy was to 'stand for the liberation of Palestine'. An official stamp was also issued with the words "Salute to the Freedom Fighters of Palestine" and a picture of Al-Aqsa.

The second question that comes to mind is that the Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Bangladesh's position has not changed towards Israel; but then what was the need to cancel the two words from the passport? It is clear that this initiative has made a clear diplomatic position of Bangladesh vague and dubious. At the same time, many feel that this is creating an additional problem for the government. Because at different times we have noticed that some people in the country are keeping secret contacts with Israeli companies for political and commercial interests. Even the Bangladesh Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) has been quoted in the media as saying that despite the lack of trade relations, goods worth about 500,000 $ have been exported from Bangladesh to Israel in the last 10 years. Even though it has been exported, the government officials and organizations related to trade have not been able to clarify how it was exported and who exported it. According to EPB, a number of readymade garments have been exported in the last few years. Besides, vaccines for Tuberculosis, Malaria and Leprosy are also being exported. Besides, some vegetables, furniture and motorcycles have also been exported. In this situation, by removing these two words from the passport, again, the statement that someone should be punished if he goes to Israel is a name to make the country's political position self-contradictory. Because even though the foreign minister promised to punish, in reality the legal framework of 'punishment' was weakened by lifting the ban on passports.

Another thing needs to be mentioned in this context. A few months ago, it was reported in some international media that the security agencies of Bangladesh had secretly bought 'spyware' from Israel. At that time all the responsible agencies of the country referred to this news as false propaganda; but now with this sudden change in the passport, many are skeptical that a section of the state is influencing the government to recognize Israel in a special interest. The increase in export earnings, the allegations of secret contacts against various individuals all indicate that there is a party here interested in Israel; But we need to keep in mind that any diplomatic initiative taken in the interest of a few opportunistic individuals or groups will not serve the country's 'national interest'. On the contrary, it is very important to reflect the public mind behind the political initiative. Bangladesh's public opinion is in no way in favor of giving the least flexibility to Israel. On the contrary, there is a perception among the people that the government is unnecessarily moving towards the development of relations with Israel, at the instigation of one quarter, against public opinion. This idea is also ingrained in the people due to the sudden change in the passport by cornering the protesting persons or organizations inside the country.

However, in a recent talk show, Bangladesh High Commissioner to Germany Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan gave some more information. He said the decision to remove the two words from the passport was taken a year ago and at least one lakh passports have already been issued in the light of that decision. It is understood that the government has maintained considerable secrecy in making this decision. The people of Bangladesh or the media came to know about it only after the release by the Israeli authorities. It is to be noted that until the 1990s, South Africa, Taiwan and Israel were banned from using Bangladeshi passports. Later, after the end of racism under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, Bangladesh established relations with South Africa. Taiwan is also excluded from Bangladeshi passports considering Bangladesh's commercial interests, although Bangladesh still considers Taiwan to be part of China; but it is not clear what political interest Bangladesh has in lifting the travel ban on Israel.