The Palestine problem interests us only in as much as it affects British Imperialist policy, but as a specifically Jewish question Palestine does not interest us at all, Mr. Fenner Brockway, M.P., the Chairman of the Independent Labour Party in succession to Mr. Maxton, said in an interview with the Jewish press here during his present visit to Poland.
My group, the Left Wing of the Labour Party, has never been satisfied, he declared, with the policy which the Labour Government has been conducting in Palestine, just in the same way as we have not been satisfied with its policy in India, and we have been in open conflict with our Ministers on this question.
I personally consider that a large share of the responsibility for the acute situation existing in Palestine falls upon the British Administration, which has been aggravating the situation, Mr. Fenner Brockway said. Our group demanded a Jewish-Arab Round Table Conference to adjust matters between the two sides, because there is no ground for hostility between Jews and Arabs.
We appreciate the value of the Jewish colonisation in Palestine, he went on, because it is raising the cultural level of the entire Palestine population, but we cannot agree that this colonisation should be carried on at the expense of the Arab population.
The adherents of British Imperialist policy are interested in making the relations between Jews and Arabs constantly more acute, in order to enable them to play off one section of the population against the other. We are opposed to the Imperialistic policy of any Government, and we want to bring about a peace between Jews and Arabs.
Asked how he envisaged the realisation of the Balfour Declaration for establishing a Jewish National Home in Palestine, Mr. Fenner Brockway said: The Balfour Declaration? I am opposed to it in the form in which it was issued, because it provides an opportunity for ambiguous interpretations. Besides, the Balfour Declaration was issued with a view to winning the support of Jewish capitalism, and that in itself is a sufficient reason why we should oppose it.
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