🕊️ Pathways to Peace: Reflections from the Israel–Palestine Panel at Ubud Writers Festival

Greenternships
Oct 31
3 min read

At this year’s Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, one of the most resonant and emotionally charged conversations unfolded in a panel titled “Israel and Palestine: Pathways to Peace.” Against the backdrop of Ubud’s now bustling crowd and vibrant creative community since the festival's debut in 2004, the discussion reminded us that literature is never removed from history — it is shaped by it, and sometimes must speak directly to it.

Set in the familiar, lively scene of the Indus Restaurant terrace overlooking the Campuhan River valley, the conversation unfolded not in quiet detachment but in the presence of a thoughtful, engaged audience. The panel brought together two deeply thoughtful voices:

Ghayath Almadhoun, the Palestinian poet whose work spans continents and languages, writing from the wound of exile while refusing to surrender the depth of human expression. His poems, translated into nearly thirty languages, bear witness to loss, longing, and the endurance of identity across displacement.

Omar El Akkad, the Egyptian-Canadian journalist and novelist whose career has been defined by reporting on conflict zones and exposing how violence, borders, and power shape lives. His novels American War and What Strange Paradise confront the stories that history often erases or sanitizes.

A Conversation Rooted in Grief — and Responsibility

The dialogue did not attempt to simplify or resolve the ongoing catastrophe in Gaza. Instead, the panelists spoke to the layers of history, trauma, and political realities that continue to devastate Palestinian lives. Almadhoun noted that “every poem is a grave,” -- that poetry will not stop the genocide in Gaza -- yet poetry remains one of the few places where Palestinian humanity is allowed to exist without condition.

El Akkad reflected on how the West’s proclaimed values of justice and equality have too often been selective, fractured by geopolitics and racial hierarchies. He described the disillusionment that comes from realizing that some lives are consistently treated as less grievable than others — and how this moral failure is not abstract, but visible in the current genocide in Gaza.

Their conversation was not only about suffering. It was also about refusal — refusal to forget, to normalize, to accept silence as neutrality (of which, at Greenternships, we are, hook, line and sinker, fully behind).

Why This Matters — Here, in Bali

To witness this conversation in Bali is meaningful.

Bali is home to a global crossroads — a place where artists, students, thinkers, travelers, activists, and everyday seekers converge. The island’s cultural philosophy, grounded in Tri Hita Karana — the harmony between humans, nature, and the divine — gives space for dialogues about justice not as abstract debates, but as moral obligations.

It is significant that we are able to speak freely here; that the festival opened room for grief, anger, compassion, and hope; that there were attendees who openly voiced their solidarity with Gaza and the Palestinian people.

In many places today, conversations like these are censored or silenced.In Bali, we are still allowed to ask the hard questions.

The Role of International Students and Interns in Bali

For those who come to Bali to study, work, volunteer, or intern, the island offers something more than professional development. It offers exposure to global perspectives — not sanitized, not theoretical, but lived in community.

As part of our efforts to preserve Unity in Diversity, to do an internship in Bali is to:

Meet people from all over the world with different histories and stories.
Learn to hold space for disagreements while still honoring humanity.
Engage with global issues — not as assignments or headlines — but as shared responsibility.

It becomes possible to develop a worldview that is empathetic, intercultural, and morally awake.

Toward Peace — and Toward Witnessing

The panel did not offer easy solutions. How could it? But it offered something just as important:

The insistence on remembering.
The courage to speak honestly.
And the belief that art does not end wars, but it can help us remain human within them.

As the session closed, many of us held silence — not resignation, but recognition.

Because peace cannot be imagined without truth. And truth cannot survive without voices willing to carry it.

[This article was co-writ with ChatGPT by Maria Bianca, who attended the panel discussion herself on the 31st of October, 2025 at Indus Restaurant, Ubud, Bali. A warm shout out to NOW! Bali and The Raw Temple, Ubud.]