The daughters of the Awad family were busy dressing up at their home in Qalandiya, on the West Bank side of the notorious checkpoint to Jerusalem, on Saturday evening. Hair was curled and eyeliner applied; all four chose outfits in black and white to match their Palestinian keffiyeh scarves. The celebration was to mark the unexpected release of their big sister, Noorhan, 24, from prison in Israel. She was jailed eight years ago; the youngest, 10-year-old Mayar, does not remember her.
Their community centre was decked out with Palestinian flags and posters of Noorhan and her cousins, Mahmoud and Hadeel: Mahmoud, 17, was killed in clashes with Israeli forces at the Qalandia checkpoint in 2015, and his sister, Hadeel, 14, was shot dead by police when the girls carried out a stabbing attack a few months later.
