JERUSALEM — In the violent East Jerusalem slum of Issawiya, trash burned next to an open bin, filling the air with an acrid stench. Arabic graffiti covered a stone wall on one side of a steep lane scattered with stones left from clashes between Palestinian residents and Israeli soldiers. A knot of children stopped and eyed two strangers with suspicion.

Then a gray metal gate rumbled open near the top of the street. A pair of exquisitely groomed Arabian horses emerged, their hooves clacking on the dusty pavement. The horses pranced toward the center of town with their riders, Alaa Mustafa, 24, and his cousin Oday Muheisan, 19. Behind them, the open gate revealed a tiny, five-sided lot for exercising horses and a stable with a dozen stalls amid a jumble of apartment buildings.

The two gleaming black horses, certified purebreds named Rawnaq and Furys, provided a glimpse of a Palestinian passion — some call it an obsession — for raising show horses, racehorses and more modest steeds in what might seem like impossible conditions. The horses are bred and to some extent trained in gritty East Jerusalem neighborhoods like Issawiya, Tur and Jabal al-Mukaber, often by families who struggle to share tiny, cramped homes.

“In America, they call raising horses the hobby of the rich,” said Muhamed Hamdan, 25, a Palestinian trainer who studied in the United States. “Here, it’s the hobby of the poor.”