The End of the End of an ETA
by Sara J. Brenneis

Early on the morning of Dec. 30, 2006, a small newspaper in Northern Spain received three phone calls, each warning of a van, parked in the garage of the swanky new main terminal of Madrid's Barajas Airport, loaded with explosives and set to go off at 9 a.m. But the phone was ringing in an office not yet open for the day, and by the time Spanish authorities got wind of the imminent attack, they no longer had time to detonate the van themselves, instead organizing a hasty evacuation of the garage. When the bomb exploded, two Ecuadorians, asleep in their cars, were crushed to death by the debris. And thus did resume ETA's campaign of violence in Spain, producing the first additions to the death toll since 2003.

In March of last year, I wrote about an announced ETA ceasefire in Spain. At that point, Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero had accepted the Basque terrorist group's declaration of an end to violence, and expressed a willingness to begin communications about formally disbanding the separatist group in the interest of political negotiations on the Basque region's call for autonomy. These political channels are what the Catalonia region has used of late to secure a measure of autonomy — what critics decry as an irreversible destabilization of Spain and what supporters argue only more officially represents the cultural and linguistic differences between Catalonia and the rest of the country. Support for autonomy remains high in the Basqueland, a region as unique as Catalonia, though support for ETA is abysmal.

Just a day before ETA's post-Christmas attack, on Dec. 29, Rodriquez Zapatero gave a speech to the Spanish Parliament in which he expressed optimism about the continuing peace negotiations with ETA, asking: "Are we better off now with a permanent cease-fire, or when we had bombs, car bombs and explosions? ... This time next year, we will be better off than we are today."

Early in 2007, as the Spanish Parliament met again under much more somber circumstances, to discuss how to proceed on the topic of ETA terrorism, Rodriguez Zapatero apologized for his earlier remarks, saying "I want to recognize the clear mistake I made before all Spanish citizens," for which members of the opposition party gathered in the chamber, having jeered him throughout his speech, applauded him.

Rodriguez Zapatero has become caught between a desire to find an end game with ETA and halt the group's 40 years of violence in Spain — and the hardliner approach of refusing to negotiate with terrorists. As a result, he has become a punching bag for the opposition party in Spain after this latest attack. Is it fair that he should have to apologize for his optimism? Is it fair that Mariano Rajoy, the main opposition party leader, has blamed Rodriguez Zapatero outright for the two deaths caused in ETA's latest attack? Is it fair that ETA should squander what would have seemed to be their best chance at a peaceful resolution to an un-resolvable situation? No, it is not fair.

We're quite familiar in this country with the quandaries of a post-9/11 society: our president has steadfastly maintained the hardliner tack rejected by Rodriguez Zapatero. This may be the only approach for terrorist groups like Al Qaeda, who have no stated desire other than the destruction and humiliation of Western civilization. But as a terrorist organization with quantifiable goals, ETA is better compared to the IRA than to Al Qaeda. Given the two extremes — a strict no-negotiation approach to terrorism, versus attempts to find peaceful and diplomatic solutions prone, yes, to setbacks that translate into additions to the death toll, but that continue to move in the direction of a permanent, peaceful ceasefire — it seems that Rodriguez Zapatero was on the right track. That ETA broke the terms of the accord is the fault of ETA.

Spain — or at least Spain's currently ruling Socialist party — has to find a way to continue the peace process without bowing down to terrorism. And they have to do it before the Popular Party (Rajoy's conservative party) gets their hands on the government, swapping 21st Century diplomacy for a return to the Inquisition, and putting the process of disbanding an already deathbed-ridden ETA back 20 years, which they most certainly will do. Again, for an uphill battle that continues to demand international attention, I wish Rodriguez Zapatero buena suerte.

E-mail Sara J. Brenneis at sara at flakmag dot com.