(Middle East/Secretary Albright's trip; Nagorno-Karabakh) (360)

Deputy State Department Spokesman Jim Foley briefed.

MIDDLE EAST/SECRETARY ALBRIGHT'S TRIP -- Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will be leaving for the Middle East on September 9, as previously scheduled, the State Department announced today. Both President Clinton and Albright reaffirmed the importance of her trip in September 4 statements.

The United States will not be intimidated, Foley said, by the new suicide bombings in West Jerusalem. "There will be no change" in the Secretary's schedule, Foley said. She is expected to visit to Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia and possibly Lebanon in what will be her first trip to the region since becoming Secretary of State early this year.

Foley stressed that the Palestinians have made "some progress" on security matters since U.S. Special Middle East Coordinator Dennis Ross visited the region last month, despite the terrorist bombings in Jerusalem earlier in the day. "The Palestinians have taken some steps in the right direction," he said. In a speech in early August Albright said that progress on security would be necessary before she would visit the region.

Foley was quick to add, however, that the United States feels that "much more needs to be done unilaterally by the Palestinians" with respect to the security situation. "We have not been satisfied with the degree of effort" the Palestinians have made, he said. "Security is obviously going to be uppermost in her mind and at the top of the agenda."

Nonetheless Albright's aim is to "try to revive hope ... to restore some sense of trust" between Palestinians and Israelis, Foley said. "She believes that she can make a difference."

Ross spoke with Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat by phone today, while Albright spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, Foley stated. Netanyahu welcomed the secretary's visit, but no other details of the conversations were available. Later today Ross was expected to meet with a delegation of Palestinian officials.

NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- Foley said that a team from the Minsk Group, representing the United States, France and Russia, will be traveling to Nagorno-Karabakh soon to continue negotiations of a peace plan they submitted to Armenia and Azerbaijan last month. NNNN