A Palestinian pedestrian was killed overnight when an Israeli border police jeep hit him in an east Jerusalem suburb, the man's family and a border police spokesman told AFP on Wednesday.

The victim, 38-year-old Amin Talab Dabash, was hit by the jeep as it drove through an area near the Jewish settlement neighbourhood of Har Homa in annexed east Jerusalem.

Border police spokesman Shai Hachimi told AFP that Dabash died in a traffic accident in a badly-lit area.

"Last night in the area of Har Homa, there was an accident when one of our jeeps hit a pedestrian. As a result of the accident, he died," he said. "He was crossing the road in a dark area, an area without lighting and the jeep hit him."

Hachimi said an investigation had been opened.

The Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds said an ambulance rushed to the scene but Dabash died almost immediately.

At his funeral, which was held overnight in the Arab neighbourhood of Sur Baher, Dabash's relatives accused the border police of having deliberately killed him, though they gave no specific details.

Around 1,000 people attended the funeral, chanting slogans against Israel and waving Palestinian flags and the yellow banner of Fatah, the political movement headed by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.