'Irish Gandhi' who led Eta to peace - World - Times Online

Now this is interesting: it was the long and patient work of a RC priest which was a key factor in first the IRA ceasefire and now the ETA cease fire. Alec Reid is the man's name and he is clearly a committed peacemaker. I've boldened important phrases.

Fr Reid was approached several years ago by a Bilbao priest working for peace to advise him about how to end the armed conflict in Spain. He has been living and working in the region for the past four years, explaining the lessons from Northern Ireland. "Explaining especially," he said, "that the only way you can solve a conflict like the Basque one or the Irish one is through dialogue between all the participants. There are no military solutions and we would say that the first thing you have to do is to take the violence away from the streets. "You can’t solve it while it is on the streets. You have to bring it to the conference table, the table for dialogue." Fr Reid added: "My information is that Eta has been completely united leading into this. This is the end of the physical force tradition in Basque politics, it’s like what happened with the IRA last year with decommissioning and it’s the beginning of a whole new era."

Respect.
Please join me in praying that he's right and for the ongoing process in and beyond Euskadi [Basque homeland].
Filed in: 'Irish Gandhi' who led Eta to peace - World - Times Online:us/andiibowsher/Euskadi" rel="tag">Euskadi, ETA, peace, process, priest, IRA, reconciliation