Lessons from the ETA's Abandonment of Terror

The recent announcement by the Basque separatist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) that it is ending terrorist operations altogether is more significant than anyone not closely following Basque nationalism might suspect. ETA has killed more than 800 people in a terrorist campaign that dates back to Francisco Franco's time. The group did not say it would disarm, and it did not express regret for past activity. But it did really say it was quitting terrorism; it was not merely announcing another of the many cease-fires that it has declared and then abandoned.