Israeli police have shot dead a Palestinian motorist they say tried to drive into them during the demolition of the home of a digger driver who killed three Israelis last year.

Micky Rosenfeld, an Israeli police spokesman, said the motorist tried to hit a group of officers at a checkpoint near the house in occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday.

"The Palestinian drove his car toward the border guards and lightly wounded three of them in the legs," he said.
  
"An officer on the scene then shot in his direction and killed him."

Heavy security had been deployed in the area while the part of the family home in which Husam Dweiyat had lived was demolished as a deterrent against future attacks on Israelis.

Last month, Dweiyat’s parents lost an appeal in Israel’s supreme court against the order to demolish part of their home, despite a military commission ruling in 2005 that such a policy was ineffective.

‘Terrorist Attack’

Police described the incident, which also injured 20 people, on Jerusalem’s Jaffna Road on July 2 as a "terrorist attack", but a lawyer for Dweiyat’s family say he was suffering from a mental illness.

Dweiyat was shot dead at the scene by police and a passerby.

Three weeks later, another Palestinian driving a digger injured 16 people in west Jerusalem before being killed by police.

In the latest such attack last month, a Palestinian was killed after his vehicle crushed a police car and hit other vehicles.

Israeli officials said the demolitions were needed to stop the spate of apparent attacks, but human rights groups have called them collective punishment.
 
(Agencies)