WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney said yesterday that Yasser Arafat has not taken enough measures to curb Middle East violence to warrant a trip to the region for a meeting with the Palestinian leader.

Cheney spoke as the death toll mounted in the conflict between Israelis and the Palestinians. Representatives from both sides were to hold talks yesterday that were arranged by U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni.

While the outcome of the meeting could determine whether Cheney flies to Egypt to see Arafat before Arab leaders gather this week to discuss the Middle East conflict, administration officials played down that possibility.

Cheney said Arafat had not met a series of conditions for a meeting, including renouncing terrorism and sharing intelligence with the Israelis.

"So far, those (conditions) have not been implemented. That doesn't mean it won't happen. That doesn't mean it will happen," Cheney said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

"We're going to do everything we can to try to bring the bloodshed to an end and get on a political track, but we're not there yet," he added.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, traveling with President Bush in Latin America, said the vice president "could go at a later time. It doesn't have to be right away. The important point is that Chairman Arafat knows we want to engage with him as we move forward."

Cheney framed a possible meeting as "just one more piece, if you will, of the whole proposition" toward peacemaking. "I wouldn't overdo it, in the sense that somehow everybody's focused in on this is the be-all and end-all of the process. It's not. It's a part of the process," he said on CNN's "Late Edition."

The violence continued yesterday in the Middle East. Israeli troops shot and killed four suspected militants after they fired at Jordanian border guards and then slipped into Israel across the usually quiet frontier, officials in both countries said.

An Israeli woman was fatally shot while traveling on a West Bank road, and Israeli troops killed a Palestinian policeman in a gunbattle nearby. Israeli soldiers also shot and killed a Palestinian near a crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel, Palestinians said.

The violence further complicated Zinni's efforts to forge a cease-fire before Wednesday's start of the Arab League summit in Lebanon that is expected to discuss peace prospects.

Powell said the United States expects that meeting to produce a "positive declaration" on a peaceful future with Israel that full includes normalization of Arab-Israeli relations.

Zinni was to meet yesterday night in Tel Aviv with the Israelis and Palestinians. Both sides have endorsed in principle a U.S. cease-fire plan but remain divided on several key issues.

The administration is confident Arafat "is capable of doing much more than he has, but up to now he has not expended the level of effort we think is warranted," Cheney said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Cheney also said the Arab League meeting would be more productive if Arafat were present. Arafat wants to go, but Israel has not given him permission and may keep him grounded if there is no truce deal.

"If Arafat is not there, the concern is that he will become the focus ... and that you won't have the kind of positive result that might otherwise be possible," Cheney said.

Powell said he and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah have reviewed the draft of an Arab League declaration they hoped will be adopted. It recognizes the rights of Israel to exist, the creation of a Palestinian state, and the intent of Arab nations to establish relations with Israel, Powell said.

Asked about U.S. expectations on normalized relations, a term some Arab leaders have sought to water down since Abdullah announced his peace initiative, Powell replied:

"There are a lot of different definitions of what normalization might or might not mean. To me, it means you have normal relations with a country you are not at war with ... where you exchange delegations and presence and you deal with them as partners, sovereign partners. That would be a step forward."

Powell and Abdullah met in Mexico at a U.N. poverty summit that Bush attended as part of his four-day tour of Latin America.

Meanwhile, Cheney said he was troubled by revelations that Iran and the Palestinians forged a new anti-Israel alliance last year. Cheney did not confirm the information from Israeli security officials, but said "it would be of great concern."

In January, Israeli commandos in the Red Sea seized a freighter, the Karine A, that was loaded with Iranian-made weapons. Israel said it was bound for Arafat's organization; Palestinian officials have denied links to Iran.

Cheney said that seizure "demonstrated that Arafat, at a time when he supposedly is interested in engaging and getting something on the peace process, was acquiescing at least in the shipment of arms and doing business with the Iranians."