Ilan Pappé, the Israeli born author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine will be in Derry for the Think Left Conference to be held in the Playhouse over the weekend of October 7.

Pappé was born in Haifa, Israel. Known as one of Israel's 'New Historians' group, Pappé used official Israeli and British government documents to demonstrate how nearly 800,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homelands through an organised and systematic terror campaign in 1948. This is known by Palestinians as the 'nakba'. He is a vocal supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign and supports the creation of one-state shared by Jews and Arabs. As a consequence of his historical work and activism he has faced death threats.

Conference organisers Gavin Campbell and Meave O'Neill said: "the struggle of the Palestinian people has been an inspiration to millions of people across the globe. Today, the movement challenging Israeli apartheid is growing stronger and stronger across Ireland. Ilan Pappé's work and voice has contributed immensely to the understanding of the roots of conflict in the Middle East. We are grateful he can join us in Derry and we think people will benefit from his contributions at the conference."

They added: "2017 is the 100th anniversary of the 1917 Balfour Declaration committing the British Empire to back the creation of 'a little loyal Jewish Ulster in a sea of potentially hostile Arabism' in historic Palestine. 2017 is also the 50th anniversary of the 1967 war when Israel occupied the rest of historic Palestine. This illegal occupation continues today. These are issues which will be addressed at the conference with the aim of strengthening the Palestine solidarity campaign."

Further information about the conference will be released in the days ahead.