Sir: In the Middle East Quartet, only the UN is an honest broker for peace. The rest of the three countries, i.e the US, Russia and European Union have a bias against the Palestinians. Even the UN has committed some blunders under the malevolent influence of the US tilt towards the Zionists and these blunders have proved to be very harmful to the Palestinian cause. One famous example is the UN Partition Plan of November 1947 against the wishes of the native populace of Palestine. The UN has become a toothless tiger with repeated vetos by the US in the Security Council. These vetoes have provided a cover to all Israeli crimes whether they were committed in Sabra, Shatila or in Gaza. Since 1974, the US has used its prerogative of the veto some 42 times in favour of Israel and effectively blocked all efforts to hold Israel to account. The abuse of the veto has caused an irredeemable loss to the UN’s standing as a neutral world body. The third member in the Quartet is the European Union. Many constituting members of this modern day European Union have committed the worst atrocities against their minority Jewish subjects in different times and at different places. Britain took the lead and King Edward I promulgated the Edict of Expulsion for the Jewish population in 1290 AD and then similar edicts were enforced in Spain in 1492 and in Portugal in 1497 AD. Nazi Germany committed the worst crimes against humanity involving Jewish people. According to some estimates, as many as six million Jews including children and old alike were exterminated in the Holocaust. In France, Jews were not well tolerated and often were persecuted even on ill-founded suspicions. Now modern day Europe wants to wash its hands clear of the stains of Jewish blood. However, why Europe wants to get itself cleansed at the cost of the Palestinians is beyond ordinary understanding. The fourth and final member of the Quartet, Russia, has an abundant number of scruples too. In the past 200 years or so, it has conducted numerous pogroms against its Jewish inhabitants. Many of these persecuted Jewish people migrated to the US or Israel, especially from 1970 to 1990. Israel now boasts of a vibrant Russian-speaking community comprising as much as 20 percent of the total population of this small country. This community is becoming increasingly active in Israeli politics. Russian is a major language in Israel and some newspapers are printed in it regularly. Russia once stood by the Arabs before the Israel-Egypt peace treaty of 1979. But now it has aligned itself with Israel. Putin vociferously spoke for Israel at the time of the Gaza war when some Rabbis sought his support for Israel. There exists a hotline contact between Moscow and Tel Aviv against the wishes of the US. Russia has started to see Israel as a distant Russian outpost. It entertains high hopes that in the near future, one of the Russian Jews can become Israeli Prime Minister and may help to promote the Russian agenda in world affairs. The Palestinians are aware of this deep rooted bias of this Quartet and do not consider them as honest peace brokers.MUHAMMAD ASHTARIslamabad