Waldheim: Mideast Situation Grave, but Confrontation Now Unlikely

United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim said today that he does not think that “there will be an immediate confrontation” in the Middle East. But he warned that the situation in the area is “grave” and that the outcome of Israel’s election last week can delay the negotiating process and the resumption of the Geneva peace conference.

Addressing a press conference here, Waldheim, who has just returned from Geneva where he held talks with Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, stressed that “we are confronted with a new situation” in the Middle East as a result of the Likud upset victory in Israel. He said that the parties to the Middle East conflict are still apart on the major issues of Palestine Liberation Organization participation in a Geneva conference, the question of a Palestinian state and the problem of mutual recognition between Israel and the Palestinians.

The Secretary General said that it remains to be seen how the new Israeli government will approach the problem in the area. Until then, he said, “it is premature to make concrete comments.” He said he hopes that contact will be resumed with the new Israeli government and expressed the hope that the Geneva conference “will take place before the end of this year.”

Waldheim emphasized that to succeed, the Geneva conference requires first of all increased efforts in bringing the parties in the Mideast closer together. Only then, he said, “we can say when the conference can meet.”

Asked about the extension of the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) mandate on the Golan Heights, which expires at the end of this month, Waldheim disclosed that Israel has already agreed in principle to the renewing of UNDOF while Syria has not yet given an answer. The Security Council is expected to meet here either Thursday or Friday to vote on the extension of UNDOF.