Global Lawyering Field Study: Israel - Simon Lee

Day One – The Innocence of Memory
By: Simon Lee '25

This article is part of a series of reflections prepared by students enrolled in the Texas A&M School of Law 2023 Global Field Studies Program: Israel. Click here to visit the entire series.

We sit among our carry-on strewn around and on the airport seats. Some of us reeled off just how much of a grind the end of the semester was. Others try to read a book assigned to us in the few hours we have left on the ground. Still, others munch on the last Chick-Fil-A they’d be eating for several weeks. DFW International buzzes around us with the usual Saturday traffic.

We have never been to Israel. Well, not us students, at least. Professors Eckstein and Professor Welsh are old hat, though. Professor Eckstein was born and raised there, and he went back regularly before COVID shut down international travel. Professor Welsh had several trips to the country as part of her storied career. But even for them, their last trip was only a memory of 2018. Now, they return to continue the work they started---with the help of capable future Aggie lawyers, of course. They are leading a trip to continue their studies of Israeli water law, water distribution and regulation therein, and, of course, the century-old disputes that plague the young country.

Given what we have read, so far, it is not lost on us just how complex the issues we face are. We were given reading materials on recent jurisprudence of water rights, the challenges and far-reaching effects inherent in environmental dispute resolution, and even a brief history of the creation of Israel and its water management system. Looming over all these reading materials and our higher academic goal are the deep political tensions in the country that we know are straining just beneath the surface. We were told to be vigilant out there and to stick together so that, if and when things snapped, we would not get mixed up in anything…extracurricular.

But as we mill about around the gate, safety concerns are distant thoughts. Far more immediate are the laundry lists of things we want to do during our two weeks outside the US. Make no mistake---as students fresh from a taxing law school semester and only minutes away from embarking on a two-week-long adventure in a country on the other side of the globe, we cannot wait for this trip---this vacation. We want to learn about and immerse ourselves in the ancient cultures that inhabited the levant. We want to meet new people, empathize with new ways of thought, and visit locations steeped in history and cultural significance. We want to gorge ourselves on all the shakshuka, rugelach, sabich, malabi, and falafel, and hummus we can find. Though we just sit, stand, and saunter around, everyone has something to say about their specific schedules.

Finally, the attendant calls for priority boarding. Some of us glance at our boarding passes. Others text family and friends and let them know we’ll be going dark. Others stow away loose items into carry-ons. Still others throw away the last Chick-Fil-A packaging they will see for weeks. And even as we file through the gate, onto the plane, and into our seats, the reality of our trip still does not set in. We had waited several months for this trip, but it was still surreal. Perhaps this is because of the gravity of the issues we know we will grapple with. Perhaps this is because of how incredible it is that we will be immersed in such a culturally and politically robust country as mere students in school. Or perhaps this is just because we are all sleep-deprived from a grueling semester at law school.

The pilot greets us over the intercom. The flight attendants check our seatbelts. The plane drives into position on the runway. After a brief pause, the plane rolls forward, accelerates until the nose rises, and, soon, the rest goes with it. It will be a few hours before we stop at Heathrow to drop off the Channel Islands group. Everyone settles into their seats, leans back, and closes their eyes or turns on movies from the airline’s library to take their minds off the flight. The wait will only intensify the anticipation and surrealism. 

 Ready or not, our trip has begun. שלום and مرحبا, Israel!

Learn more about Texas A&M University School of Law's Global Law and Policy Program, Aggie Dispute Resolution Program, and Energy, Environmental, and Natural Resource Systems Law Program