Around the world, peace process seen as model
Reuters, 05/23/98
 ASHINGTON - President Bill Clinton led congratulations to the Irish on their peace deal on Saturday --and politicians in the Middle East and Basque country pondered if Northern Ireland could serve as a model for solving their own conflicts.
The U.S. president, who has Irish roots, said in a recorded message for broadcast throughout Ireland that in voting overwhelmingly to accept the deal the Irish had chosen hope over fear.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's government urged British Prime Minister Tony Blair, an architect of the peace accord, to ''use his experience'' to try to reach a lasting peace in the Middle East.
Israel said that while no two cases were alike, what had happened in Ireland was encouraging.
World leaders sent their congratulations and hopes for a lasting peace after voters on both sides of the Irish border resoundingly backed the landmark deal designed to end 30 years of Protestant-Catholic bloodshed over British rule in Northern Ireland.
The Palestinian Authority said it hoped the vote would set the stage for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
''We call on the British prime minister to use his experience which led to the agreement in Ireland to try to reach a lasting peace between the Israelis and Palestinians,'' Ahmed Abdel-Rahman, secretary-general of the Palestinian Authority, told Reuters in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's adviser, David Bar-Illan, told Reuters: ''No two cases are similar, but the fact that there is a step forward in the Irish peace process must encourage all who work for peace.''
Some in Spain hoped there could be a model for ending decades of separatist violence in the Basque country.
Basque nationalists called on the Spanish government to follow Blair's example and seek a negotiated solution to Spain's conflict, which has claimed 800 lives.
Most leaders agreed the crucial factor in Northern Ireland was representation at the bargaining table for all parties to the conflict.
''There is a lesson to be learned from the results,'' said Inaki Anasagasti, spokesman for the moderate Basque Nationalist Party.
''What we must have is the same kind of process under which the British and the Irish, Conservatives and Labourites ... have all agreed to work together for peace,'' he told Reuters.
Javier Medrazo, general coordinator of the Basque branch of the United Left coalition, said it was time for the Basque people ''to demand once and for all democratic and negotiated solutions.''
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar has steadfastly refused to hold talks with the outlawed Basque guerrilla group ETA or anyone representing them until the rebels renounce killing and lay down their arms.
President Clinton, who had worked hard to help prod the Northern Ireland parties into the agreement, said Americans rejoiced.
He called the vote ''the culmination of a springtime of peace, and it must be the beginning of a long season of happiness and prosperity.''
''As of today, peace is no longer a dream, it is a reality. You have indeed joined hope to history. All over America, the eyes of Irish Americans, and indeed all our peace-loving citizens, are smiling.''
There was talk of Clinton going to Northern Ireland to celebrate the triumph, but a senior White House official on Saturday said there were no current plans for a trip.
There was particular praise for British prime Minister Tony Blair, whose Labour government only took office a year ago.
The chairman of the French National Assembly's foreign affairs committee, Jack Lang, said: ''This victory is a credit to Tony Blair's government who once again showed a great amount of courage and political intelligence.''
French President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin said they hoped the large ''yes'' vote would bring an end to violence and killings in the region.
''This is a magnificent success, an historic success, a victory for reason over human folly,'' Chirac wrote in an open letter to British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Both Chirac and Jospin paid fulsome praise to Blair for his part in helping orchestrate the deal.
Commonwealth secretary-general Chief Emeka Anyaoku said he was delighted that the Irish had voted so unequivocally.
''Ireland has many friends in the Commonwealth who have been following with keen interest developments regarding the peace process and who fervently wish Ireland a peaceful and prosperous future,'' he said.
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