Great, you've chosen to spend the next half hour with some of the most starkly beautiful creatures on the planet,

Arabian horses. This is a story from the Middle East about the West Bank and Israel,

but it's a surprising tale, one that reveals much joy and I say this tentatively perhaps hope too.

If you like what you hear maybe you'll tell your friends and even rate us with your podcast provider. Anyway here goes Clippity Clop.

I'm Linda Presley and this week's assignment explores a passion shared in Israel and the

occupied West Bank.

We have here almost 200 courses in two and a half days and the people are so enthusiastic, so many breeders, owners, they have fun, they enjoy it.

At the Israeli kibbutz of Al-Anim, one of the region's most prestigious Arabian

Hall shows is underway. It's essentially a beauty contest and...

Hey, hey, hey, hey! The Austrian controller, Elizabeth Chatt, is on the lookout for rule breakers.

Black painting will take off. This is not allowed.

Hooves should not be artificially blackened.

And apart from a trainer who shows the horse, only one other helper

is allowed in the arena, so a group of men accompanying a stunning chestnut cult are

given their marching orders. There's not allowed, so I eliminate them

because they make a big disaster here to the others.

Oh right, so you're sending the horse out of the show?

Not the horse.

The help her.

Among the thousands of spectators here are Israelis, both Jewish and Arab, Jews and Christians, and Palestinians from the West Bank. It's a forum like no other, where we're told love of these special creatures

trumps the divided politics of the Middle East.

With all the conflicts and everything that's going on in this country.

...