Israeli forces killed 11 Palestinians over the weekend, including two children in a helicopter raid, which led Israel's president on Sunday to call for an investigation into whether the occupation army was "trigger-happy." The violence also appeared to cloud prospects for the renewal of Israeli-Palestinian security talks on initial steps toward a truce in nearly two years of bloodshed.

In what Palestinians described as the killing of innocent quarry workers, Israeli soldiers outside the West Bank city of Hebron shot dead four Palestinians. A military source said they were carrying wire cutters and a saw near a Jewish settlement.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers entered Jenin refugee camp and killed Abdel-Kareem al-Saadeh, aged 16, after gunmen fired at them, Palestinian sources said.

Late on Saturday, a gunman from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine raided the Jewish settlement of Har Bracha near the West Bank city of Nablus, wounding a married couple before being shot dead by a soldier.

A helicopter assault in the West Bank village of Tubas on Saturday rekindled debate within Israel on tactics the military uses to enforce what Israeli leaders call a policy of self-defense against activists behind attacks on Israelis.

A missile fired by one of the helicopters destroyed a car carrying a activist, killing him and two 15-year-old youths traveling with him. A second missile hit a nearby house, killing a boy, nine, and a girl, 10, and wounding seven others.

Israeli officials expressed regret at the death of the two children and Israel Radio said Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer had ordered the occupation army to investigate.

Israeli President Moshe Katzav, a former right-wing Likud party lawmaker who now holds a largely ceremonial position, said during a visit to an Israeli Arab school that it was imperative the occupation army address the issue.

"The claim as to whether the (army) was trigger-happy must be examined," he said. "If the army reaches the conclusion that this was the case, it will decide what to do -- but it would be hasty to draw conclusions now."

Earlier in the week, an Israeli tank shell killed four members of a Palestinian family in the Gaza Strip. On July 23, nine children were among the dead in an air raid that killed a top Hamas activist, his deputy and 14 other Palestinians in Gaza City. Israeli officials called the civilian deaths a mistake.

"The defense minister must examine whether the series of mishaps and apologies really stems from mistakes and not from a change in policy...which makes it easier to press the trigger," Haim Ramon, a senior legislator in Ben-Eliezer's Labour Party, told Israel Radio.

At least 1,528 Palestinians and 589 Israelis have been killed since a Palestinian uprising erupted in September 2000 after peace talks froze.

SHARON SAYS PREVENTION PARAMOUNT

Opening the Israeli school year on Sunday, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made clear that preventing Palestinian attacks remained his top priority.

"We want peace. We are committed to peace. But you have to know one thing: to have peace you have to know how to defend peace, to keep the peace, to prevent attacks," he said in broadcast remarks.

Palestinians expressed anger at the latest deaths.

"All talks with the Israeli side should be suspended after all these massacres," Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo told Reuters.

The violence coincided with a visit by U.S. Deputy of State David Satterfield, who held talks on Saturday with Palestinian officials on Palestinian security reforms seen as crucial by Washington for reviving talks on a Palestinian state.

Satterfield left for Damascus and Beirut on Sunday.

Earlier, Palestinian Interior Minister Abdel Razzak al-Yahya reported "positive feedback" from the U.S. envoy on sending experts and equipment to restructure security services -- aid first broached by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in August.

Yahya has held security talks with Ben-Eliezer on preliminary steps toward a cease-fire, but the contacts were suspended twice last week after violence flared.

PHOTO CAPTION

A Palestinian man searches the rubble of a destroyed building at Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza Strip, near the border between Gaza Strip and Egypt, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2002. Overnight, Israeli occupation Army bulldozers destroyed buildings which Israel claims were used as part of a tunnel network to smuggle arms into Gaza from Egypt. Palestinian authorities deny the claim. ( AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra)
- Sep 01 7:19 AM ET