Waldheim to Chair Peace Talks; Conference Expected to Last 3-4 Days Will Resume in January with Kiss

United Nations sources confirmed here tonight that the Arab-Israeli peace conference will open in Geneva next Tuesday under the chairmanship of UN Secretary General Kurt Waldhelm. The conference, which is expected to last 3-4 days, will be organized by the United Nations and will be attended by U.S. Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko. The sources said that the foreign ministers of Israel, Egypt, Syria and Jordan are also due to attend. This announcement put an end to a week of speculations during which UN officials said that they had not been officially notified about the conference. Swiss officials said the same.

The UN Secretary General is expected to send out today the official invitations to the conference participants. Observers here believe that after a formal opening and a statement of purpose by the concerned countries, the conference experts would continue to meet in Geneva, however, in order to try and reach some agreement on an agenda as well as a possible timetable. American and UN circles here say that such preparatory work is necessary if the conference is to run smoothly and without unnecessarily losing time when it reconvenes some time in the second half of Jan All the ministers are expected to return to Geneva for the resumption of the conference’s work. Kissinger is expected to preside over the Jan. meetings.

Swiss officials claim that they have not been notified as yet, at least officially, about the conference but Geneva canton officials conferred yesterday with Swiss police officials and representatives of the UN to work out security arrangements. Swiss officials say that these arrangements will be unprecedented and stricter than those enforced during the 1955 summit meeting. Hundreds of Swiss police will guard the airport, the conference site and the hotels where the delegations will be staying. Kissinger is expected in Geneva Monday afternoon. He will be arriving from Israel, the last-leg of his current Middle East tour during which he is due to visit Algeria. Saudi Arabia Jordan. Syria and Israel. A number of American officials have already arrived in Geneva. but they say that all conference plans, including such all-important items as a conference agenda and timetable, will be worked out by Kissinger himself with the various countries.

Soviet sources say that Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko is due to arrive in Geneva Saturday while Waldheim is expected to leave New York for Switzerland Sunday evening. The Israeli and Arab delegations are expected to arrive in Geneva Monday afternoon. An Egyptian spokesman said that he has not yet been informed of who will lead the delegation or of how many members. it will consist. The Syrian delegation here said that they have not yet been told whether Syria will take part in the talks.

The lack of certainty and the confusion which reign here are such that UN officials have privately nicknamed the forthcoming conference “The Alice-in-Wonderland Meeting.” Observers here hope. however, that in spite of the improvisations, the conference will run smoothly once it gets started. Israeli circles privately say that they expect the opening session to last only a day or two at the most and reconvene late in Jan. after a new Israeli government is formed.