The crowd was in high spirits at the 17th International Arabian Horse Show in December. Competing horses pranced and postured in the ring as their handlers looked on; young boys scurried amid coffee stalls and clouds of shisha. More than 2,000 people had descended on Jericho, a city in the West Bank, with whole villages turning out to support local favourites. 

Jude Edgington, a British photographer, travelled from London to document the show. He spoke to Kheir Awali, a spectator from Acre, a city in northern Israel with a large Palestinian population. “Attending the Jericho horse show is not casual,” Awali told him. “You plan for it. The journey itself feels like part of the ritual.” 

It is not simple for Palestinians to travel through the West Bank. The journey involves multiple roadblocks and checkpoints, manned by Israeli soldiers. Since October 7th 2023, these encounters have become increasingly hazardous. Violence from settlers and soldiers is common, and security forces have sometimes shot at vehicles passing through the checkpoint queues.