Mr Ramon said he disagreed with those who argued that demolishing the
home of the bulldozer attacker would help prevent future attacks, but
he said the house should be demolished regardless, if it was legally
possible.

The barrier has already cut off several neighbourhoods
housing tens of thousands of Palestinian holders of Israeli Jerusalem
IDs.

He said the Jabal al-Mukabir area, home of a
Palestinian who killed eight Jewish students in March, should be given
the same treatment.

He killed three people and wounded dozens more before security personnel climbed on the vehicle and killed him.

Three Palestinian militant groups claimed responsibility for the attack
although the Israeli authorities say they believed Dwayat acted alone
and was not a member of any group.

Correspondents said Dwayat’s home in east Jerusalem
showed no sign of the crowds and banners that normally accompany the
funerals of Palestinian militants.

Palestinian civil rights activist Hassib Nashashibi
said Dwayat had received a heavy fine and demolition order from the
Israeli authorities for carrying out illegal building work, which may
have provided a motivation.

Other reports say the the father-of-two – a devout
Muslim married to a Palestinian woman – may have been seeking revenge
for experiences in the past including a failed love affair with a
Jewish Israeli woman and a spell in prison.

“Everyone is in shock,” said a family friend.

Medics said he killed two women and a man and injured more than 45
people as he drove about 200m along the busy Jaffa Road, one of west
Jerusalem’s main thoroughfares.

The baby of one of the dead women survived and was found under the seat of an overturned bus.

Another woman threw her baby out of her car window when she saw the
20-tonne construction vehicle bearing down on her. She was injured but
her baby was unharmed.

Correspondents say the attack has put extra strain on
the uneasy coexistence between the city’s Jews and their Arab
neighbours, many of whom work in the construction industry.

The Palestinian Authority condemned the attack, but the
Hamas group, which controls the Gaza Strip said it was a “natural
reaction to the aggression and crimes” of the Israeli occupation.

“Those who refuse to condemn this act of terror are
exposing themselves for what they really are – namely the enemies of
fundamental human values,” said Israeli government spokesman Mark
Regev.

Apart from a gun attack in March, Jerusalem has seen relatively little violence in the last three years.

Since the start of 2008, across Israel and the occupied territories, 29
Israelis have been killed in violence linked to the conflict as have
more than 400 Palestinians.