JERUSALEM,(Reuters) – Israeli policemen on Friday shot dead a Palestinian driver in Arab East Jerusalem after his car ran into them, an Israeli police spokesman and Palestinian medical workers said.

It was unclear whether the incident, in which two officers were slightly wounded, was an accident or a deliberate attack.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said officers opened fire after a man whose car rammed into them, tried to flee on foot.

Palestinian medical workers identified the victim as Ziad al-Jolani.

The incident occured in Wadi al-Joz, a neighbourhood in East Jerusalem, which Israel captured in a 1967 Middle East war, and annexed as part of its capital, a move not recognised internationally. Palestinians want the city for capital of a future state.

Four Palestinians have been killed by Israelis in similar incidents in the past two years, including a July 2008 instance in which a bulldozer driver was shot dead after killing three Israelis when he rammed a bus and some cars on a street.