Zahalka has won backing from the agriculture minister, Uri Ariel, and Ayelet Shaked, the justice minister. Both are tightly linked to the settler movement, and Ariel is a director of the JNF.
But faced with the scientific evidence and the threat of more fires, Ariel has climbed down. "Goats are an important factor in fire prevention, and we want to encourage the act of grazing," he now says.
Sadly, it has taken Israeli governments nearly 70 years to reverse their policy of destroying the black goat -- a policy that intentionally sought to wreck Palestinian agriculture, and with it Palestinian communities, heritage and identity.
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