Bangladesh has ruled out recognizing Israel until Palestine is established as an independent and sovereign country free of any occupation forces. 

“As long as Palestine is not established as an independent and sovereign state, we (Dhaka) are beside them and we would not accept any occupation (Israel) army there (Palestine),” Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen said.  There is a soul-to-soul relation between the peoples of Bangladesh and Palestine, he said.

The minister was addressing a handover ceremony of the donation of Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries for the people of Palestine, Dhaka Tribune reported.

Bangladesh never recognized Israel though Tel Aviv approached Dhaka for recognition and building bilateral ties on several occasions, he said, adding: “We largely decided that we would not make any (bilateral) ties with them.”

The minister went on to say that Bangladesh believes in a two-state solution, the existence of the state of Palestine and the state of Israel, as a way out of the decades-long crisis there.

Noting that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has already sent 50,000 US dollars to Palestine people, Momen said apart from the government, many private organizations and individuals have been sending donations there.

Earlier, he said Bangladesh has not changed its position towards Israel and the foreign policy of Bangladesh remains the same as it was during Bangabandhu’s time.

“If anyone (Bangladeshi citizen) goes to Israel without the government permission that person will be liable to be prosecuted… there has been evidence before,” he said.

During the past eight decades of the Israel-Palestine conflict, Bangladesh all along stridently supported the Palestinians’ cause and never recognized the existence of Israel while allowing Palestine to set up its embassy in Dhaka as an independent nation.

Bangladesh also condemned the recent atrocities inflicted upon the civilians by the occupation forces of Israel in the al-Aqsa mosque compound and at Gaza.

(SAM)