South African Nobel literature laureate Nadine Gordimer has rejected claims by international and local organisations that her upcoming trip to Jerusalem to attend a writers’ festival would lend legitimacy to the Israeli state.

Gordimer, who has come under severe pressure to boycott the International Writers’ Festival in Jerusalem because it coincides with the Israeli state’s 60th celebrations, said the concerns were “misconceived”.

“My solidarity with our struggle against apartheid surely can leave no doubt in the minds of my comrades and others concerned that I do not support the present (Israeli) government of their country and deplore many of its actions.”

Gordimer told Independent Newspapers that there was “misinformation” about her visit.

She would be in Israel from May 11 to 15 and also wanted to help foster talks between Israelis and Palestinians.

Since her trip to Israel was announced last month, there has been a strong lobby appealing to the 84-year-old not to take part in the event.

However, Gordimer said she was not going to Israel under the “auspices” of the Israeli government, but was honouring an invitation by the Konrad Adenauer Institute.

“The purpose (of my visit), conditions on which I have agreed to participate, are for writers to discuss their responsibilities to their art, their communities, their countries and the world we share.”

Gordimer said writers would discuss contentious subjects, including using literature as a way of opening up the human mind.

“This meeting is to assert vitally that whatever violent, terrible, bitter and urgent chasms of conflict lie between peoples, the only solution for peace and justice exist and must begin with both sides talking to one another.”

Two weeks ago, the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BCUP) urged Gordimer to reconsider her trip, saying it was “dispiriting” that a writer of her standing was prepared to appear in a city that was under military occupation and “founded on ethnic cleansing”.

“By taking part in an event substantially funded by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, you (Gordimer) will be lending credibility to a state that has for decades subjected Palestinian towns and villages to collective punishment and that boasts of its extrajudicial killings,” the BCUP said.

The SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) said in a statement that it was “alarmed” to hear that Gordimer would be going to Israel and accused her of participating in the “catastrophe” of the destruction of Palestine.

Gordimer - who plans to visit Palestinians in Ramallah - denied her participation in the festival would condone the Israeli government’s policies.

“I shall do my utmost to uphold the principles and practices I have held, and still hold, at home in our country,” she said.