Alexandria, Egypt -- U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright explained in a television interview September 12 that the United States view is that both the interim and the final status negotiations should be "accelerated and that there be a better way for the crisis of confidence (between Palestinian and Israeli leaders) to be overcome."

Speaking with the Arabic-language television network, MBC of London, the American secretary of state confirmed that she did discuss with Egyptian and Syrian officials the spread of "ballistic missiles" in the region.

She said this was an issue of "major concern" to the United States as well as to other unidentified countries in the Middle East because of its "destabilizing" nature. She said the discussions centered on ways to limit the spread of these weapons but offered no details.

Following is the transcript of the interview:

(Begin transcript)

INTERVIEWER: Secretary Albright, I would like to thank you for letting us have this interview here.

ALBRIGHT: I'm very glad to be able to be here.

QUESTION: Have you discussed with the Syrian and Egyptian officials the ballistic missiles spread in the Middle East?

ALBRIGHT: Well, we have all been very concerned about the spread of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. This is a major concern to the United States. It is obviously a concern to the countries in the region and is very destabilizing, so it is a subject that we have discussed.

QUESTION: So you have discussed it?

ALBRIGHT: Yes.

QUESTION: So what is the outcome?

ALBRIGHT: Well, I think it's mostly that we will be talking about how to have some way of limiting it because I think it is a mutual concern.

QUESTION: But officials here and in Syria say this is a double standard again from the United States. Do you agree?

ALBRIGHT: No, I don't think it is a double standard. I think the United States believes that the spread of weapons of mass destruction is something that needs to be controlled throughout the world.

QUESTION: So why don't you talk about this with the Israelis?

ALBRIGHT: Well, I think the issue here is that it is important generally to work on limiting the weapons of mass destruction.

QUESTION: Back to the Middle East process, do you agree with the French Foreign Minister who said that the Netanyahu government is responsible for the collapse of the peace process?

ALBRIGHT: I think that there are a number of reasons that at the moment there is a crisis in confidence and they include the fact that the leaders on both sides are not making the hard decisions that are necessary in order to get the peace process moving again. What I have found in my travels is that the public, the Israeli and the Palestinian people want the peace process to continue. It's complicated and it can only continue if there is trust and the interim agreement as it was set up was supposed to establish bonds that would allow the final status issues to be dealt with. We think that those bonds have not been developed and, therefore, the U.S. is suggesting that the interim agreement and the final status be accelerated and that there be a better way for the crisis of confidence to be overcome.

QUESTION: Secretary Albright, we would like to have something clear because the Israelis say that you asked them to stop the provocative enlargement of settlements. Is that right?

ALBRIGHT: What I said in the speech that I gave, was that the Palestinians see the settlements as provocative and that I called for a time out on unilateral acts that either side saw as undercutting an environment that would allow the peace process to go forward. That means that there should be an end to the war of words. There needs to be greater action by Chairman Arafat in controlling terrorism and there needs to be an end to unilateral acts that preempt the final status issues.

QUESTION: This includes settlements?

ALBRIGHT: I said we have said that the United States Government's position has been that the settlements have not been helpful as far as moving the peace process forward.

QUESTION: But are you ready to put pressure on Israel about this?

ALBRIGHT: I have made that statement and I have made very clear what the views of the United States were. But I have also made very clear that it is very hard for any people to negotiate in an environment of terror, and the main enemies of peace are the terrorists, the bombers, the mad bombers, the suicide bombers who destroy the opportunities for peace which the people of the region want very badly. The truth is that the peace process itself is strong and the bombers cannot destroy it, but they do create disruptions and it is, therefore, important for the leaders to make the decisions so that the people of the region who are fine people who want to live together, who want to sort out a way can, in fact, move to a normal life.

QUESTION: How do you think the Syrian track could get back on track, could move forward?

ALBRIGHT: Well, I think it requires again a different approach as to how to restart the talks by the Syrians and by the Israelis. I think that it would be good to see what we can do to get it back on track. Again, this is not an easy issue, and I tell the truth and I think that it is hard. We need some big decisions to be made and so far all we can get are some small steps.

QUESTION: The Israelis refuse to withdraw from the Golan Heights as a principle.

ALBRIGHT: Well, they acquired it and they consider it important for their security, but it is important to have talks about how to deal with the issue of the Golan Heights. That is what we are trying to do, is to make them go back, both sides to make up, to avoid the differences they have in approach and try to get down to talking about this very important issue.

QUESTION: Some Israeli ministers have proposed that Israel should withdraw from South Lebanon. Do you agree with this? Do you think this is important for Middle East peace?

ALBRIGHT: Well, I think that it is important for stability for there to be some way to avoid the kind of fighting that has been going on in South Lebanon now and for the monitoring group there to be able to be more effective so that the level of interchange now, of exchanges that are causing deaths, that should end. That's what I think is important.

QUESTION: Do you think that the Lebanese government should take some steps?

ALBRIGHT: I think that there needs to be every attempt to control the activities of those groups within southern Lebanon that shoot katayusha rockets into Israel and that create disruption.

INTERVIEWER: Thank you very much.

ALBRIGHT: Thank you, very much.