THE THINKING GOES that, with the Basque secessionst plan -voted by 'moderate' Basque nationalists and three members of the Basque regional parliament for the party who had been banned for its ties to ETA- the terrorist group might be inclined to lay down its arms, right? (scroll down for previous posts, or just type "Ibarretxe" on the seach box above).

According to this logic, "separatist" ETA makes overture for peace, hopes are growing for ETA peace deal despite cautious words, a Spanish government source says that ETA's end may be near because we migh be seing right now the dying days of ETA, since Basque radicals rekindle peace hopes as Madrid discerns ETA's demise just as ETA says it backs peace talks in Basque conflict. Therefore, ETA signals enthusiasm for dialogue with Madrid.

And just a couple of hours ago, ETA has clearly signaled its strong enthusiasm for dialogue with Madrid:

'Eta' bomb explodes near Bilbao
A car bomb explosion has injured a police officer in a town near Bilbao, in the Basque region of northern Spain.

The blast rocked Getxo as police were sealing off the area, 10 minutes after a tip-off from a caller claiming to represent the Basque separatists Eta.

The explosion, at 1430 (1330 GMT) on Tuesday, shattered many windows, the Spanish TV station Telecinco reported.