At present it’s hard to think of a political debate more vexed than that of the Israel-Palestine question. With any attempt at even-handed discussion so often overwhelmed by the grandstanding of extremists, hypocrites and apologists from both sides, it is understandable that Ben Brown, a playwright who says he has “no political axe to grind”, is tackling the issue by side-stepping the contemporary debate.

Brown’s new work, The Promise, which opens at the Orange Tree Theatre next week, explores one of the essential roots of the current Israel-Palestine conflict - the story behind the Balfour Declaration of 1917, that saw the British government vow to help establish “a national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine.

Furthermore, Brown says that rather than write a polemical piece backing one side over the other, he chose instead to dramatise the period, and its main players, as a means of getting a better understanding of a subject that has become, arguably, the most important issue of our time.

“You always hear so much about Israel-Palestine and the question suddenly occurred to me, what are the origins of Israel and the conflict?” he explains.

“Ultimately my aim was to write a good play. Growing up in North London with a non-observant Jewish father, meant that I was very exposed to the argument form both sides but, as far as the subject matter was concerned, I didn't have a political axe to grind - not one that I was conscious of anyway.

“I didn't want to demonise any point of view, I just wanted to understand how this conflict arose and to understand where the people who were making the decisions were coming from.”

The play begins in 1914 as Herbert Samuel, the first practising Jew ever to sit in a British Cabinet, resolves to back a Zionist campaign for the setting up of a Jewish state in Palestine - only to find his views opposed by his cousin, fellow Jew and cabinet member, Edwin Montagu.

The Prime Minster, Asquith, shares Montagu’s opinion and blocks Samuel’s proposal, but the political landscape shifts when Asquith steps down.

With the new Prime Minister, Lloyd George, and Foriegn Secretary, Lord Balfour, sympathetic to the Zionist cause, the prospect of the Balfour Declaration suddenly becomes more than just a dream for the Jewish campaigners.

Brown, whose play Larkin with Women enjoyed a sell out run at the Orange Tree in 2006, says that the history which The Promise is based on was the stuff of dramatists’ dreams - as well as the political manouverings he also dramatises the love triangle comprised of Asquith, Montagu and an aristocrat named Venetia Stanley.

“Going back to this period means we have all the cabinet letters, minutes and memoranda - my research is all about primary sources,” he adds.

“Everything controversial in the play was actually said and recorded, so I felt like I was on solid ground. I tried my best to give these the characters the views that they really had and give them the chance to express them.”

Inevitably, the meanings and intentions behind the play will be scrutinised and debated in the current weeks - does Brown worry about how The Promise is going to be perceived?

“Maybe I'll be attacked on all sides,” he replies. “Alan Bennett said for him plays come from being in two minds about things and I was probably in more than two minds about this. I don't write plays because I know the answers and this one is intended for everybody – whether you are a Zionist or anti-Zionist, Jewish or non-Jewish, British or non-British. It is about trying to define this moment in history.”

The Promise, Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, February 17 - March 20, for more information, visit orangetreetheatre.co.uk