Waldheim Hopeful That All Parties Invited to UN Confab Will Attend

A spokesman for Secretary General Kurt Waldheim said today that Waldheim does not consider as final Israel’s announcement in Jerusalem it would not attend a UN conference. The spokesman said Waldheim still hoped that all the parties invited would attend the UN conference scheduled for about two weeks from now.

Waldheim, however, has not received an official Israeli rejection of his invitation so far, the spokesman said. He added that Waldheim’s call for a preparatory meeting at the UN for a Geneva meeting was made on his own initiative.

Sources here indicated yesterday that Waldheim’s surprise announcement might have been influenced by the Soviet Union and the United States, or by the radical Arab states which have spurned Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s recent peace moves. Diplomats and observers here agreed today that Israel’s rejection of Waldheim’s initiative has practically killed Waldheim’s proposed conference.

UNDOF MANDATE RENEWED

Meanwhile, the Security Council adopted a resolution today renewing the mandate of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) on the Golan Heights for a six-month period ending May 31, 1978. The mandate was to expire tonight. The vote was 12-0. Three Council members–China, Libya and Benin–did not participate.

The resolution called on all parties concerned to implement immediately Security Council Resolution 338 of Oct. 22, 1973. It also requested Waldheim to report, at the end of the renewal period, on developments in the Middle East situation and measures taken to implement Resolution 338. That resolution, along with Security Council Resolution 242 of Nov. 22, 1967, comprises the basis for the Geneva conference.