“Any move to restructure the Security Council should be aimed at strengthening its capabilities to play its role in an effective way according to the UN charter,” the Kingdom said in a statement on the occasion of the organization’s 66th anniversary.

“Restriction of the veto power should be one of the important reforms,” the statement said, adding that all permanent members of the Security Council should pledge that they would not use the veto to prevent implementation of UN resolutions.

The Kingdom emphasized the need to solve the Arab-Israeli conflict and urged Tel Aviv to implement UN resolutions on the issue. “The international community should pressure Israel to halt construction of Jewish settlements in occupied Arab territories.”

Saudi Arabia urged the UN to recognize Palestine as an independent state and give it full membership. “The Kingdom is seeking a just and comprehensive Middle East peace settlement that cannot be achieved without Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Arab territories including Golan Heights and South Lebanon.”

The Kingdom opposed the double standard in implementing UN resolutions. “The proposed UN reforms should improve the international body’s performance and effectiveness, especially the Security Council,” Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah said while addressing the UN General Assembly in 2000. The king also stressed the need for political will to implement UN resolutions.

King Abdullah initiated a UN conference on cultural dialogue in New York in 2008, which was attended by several heads of state. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the meeting an important step toward promoting world peace and promised his full backing to realize its objectives. An agreement was signed on Oct. 13 to establish King Abdullah International Dialogue Center in Vienna.

The United Nations has agreed to establish an international counterterrorism center in New York on the recommendation of Saudi Arabia, and the center was launched last month. The Kingdom contributed $10 million to meet its budget for three years.

Saudi Arabia is one of the founding members of the United Nations and had attended the San Francisco conference that endorsed the UN Charter. The Saudi delegation to that conference was led by King Faisal, then foreign minister of the country.

The late Crown Prince Sultan addressed the UN General Assembly on the 60th anniversary in 2005 and called for international cooperation to fight terrorism. He opposed the move to link Islam and Muslims with terror.

The Kingdom underscored the UN’s efforts to promote and maintain world peace. Respecting UN resolutions and its principles are the best way to solve international conflicts and crises, it said. The statement commended UN’s efforts to settle international conflicts, ending racial discrimination and providing relief supplies to victims of natural calamities and civil wars.

Saudi Arabia considers the United Nations the best framework for cooperation between nations and peoples. “The UN will remain the biggest hope of humanity, after God, in saving future generations from the woes of wars,” the statement quoted King Abdullah as saying while addressing the UN General Assembly.