Basque Terrorist Group ETA Calls For Cease-Fire

Organized terrorism has been in existence for decades. The global terrorist organizations which have caused the most casualties in the past few centuries have been the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which held Ireland and England hostage to violence for many years in the 1900s, and formally retired in 2005. And then the Basque separatists, ETA, which started back in 1959 and still exist today; although they've been pretty inactive, as far as violence goes, for the past year. Then you have the narco-terrorists in places like Mexico. But the most prolific, in terms of scope and quantity of violence, are the radical Islamists who attack indiscriminately all over the world. Unlike their brothers in terrorism, the IRA, the ETA and the drug traffickers who remain territorial, and do not export their violence overseas, the Islamic extremists exist in many different countries under the guise of many different groups and in many different forms. You have Al- Qaeda, Al Shabaab, the Taliban, Hamas, Hizbollah, the Chechnyan extremists and a large assortment of smaller, and yet equally violent groups.

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But it looks like ETA just might be joining the ranks of the now defunct IRA, at least in terms of a ceasefire.

The armed Basque separatist group ETA, under pressure from political allies to renounce violence and decapitated repeatedly by the arrests of its leaders, announced another cease-fire Sunday, suggesting it might turn to a political process in its quest for an independent homeland.

In a video statement, masked rebels said:

"ETA makes it known that as of some months ago it took the decision to no longer employ offensive armed actions. If the government of Spain has the will, ETA, today as in the past, is willing to agree to the democratic minimums necessary to undertake the democratic process."

Of course, they could be just vain promises that are never fulfilled, like Hamas militants that continuously declare cease-fires and then lob missiles towards Israel the following day. Apparently, many aren't putting too much credence into the statement regarding a ceasefire, since there was no mention of disbanding or renouncing violence.

"It's absolutely insufficient because it does not take into account what the vast majority of Basque society demands and requires from ETA, which is that it definitively abandon terrorist activity," Basque regional interior minister Rodolfo Ares said in the first official comment on the announcement.

The ETA turned to violence in their quest to create a separate homeland in sections of southwest France and northern Spain, but this isn't the first time they have called a truce. In 2006 a truce was announced but violence continued, including a bombing in Majorca in 2009. What disturbs most is the failure to renounce violence and no word on surrendering their weapons and arms. In addition, ETA did not say whether

it would halt other activities like extorting money from business leaders or recruiting members.

Nor was there any mention of whether the cease-fire could be monitored by international observers as called for Friday by two Basque parties that back independence: ETA's outlawed political wing Batasuna and a more moderate pro-independence party called Eusko Alkartasuna.

Even those who have supported ETA and their desire for independence are losing their taste for a group that uses violence as a means to achieve its goals.

Since late last year, divisions have been

emerging and widening between ETA and the political parties that support it. Jailed ETA veterans have also been distancing themselves from the group. And Friday's statement by those two parties was significant in that it marked the first time they had put down in writing that they wanted ETA to work toward independence through peaceful means, rather than with violence.

Most civilized, enlightened people are fed up violence. There are better ways of achieving one's goals, and hopefully ETA militants will see the light and put down their arms. Killing innocent people does not make people cheer for your cause, it makes them want you to fail.

Sources: Fox News , MSNBC