Televised images of Israeli troops violently repressing Palestinian protestors in the occupied territories certainly reinforce the key message of Islamic militants that the lands of Islam are under attack and that all Muslims must rise up and fight.

However, although a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would help alleviate political tensions in the region, it would not end the threat of militant Islam. The roots of contemporary Islamic militancy cannot be reduced to a single problem.

Islamic militants feel the 'ummah' is under attack. From their viewpoint, Israel is merely an outpost of the West, as it was when it became a Crusader kingdom in the 12th century. Even if the Jewish state is completely destroyed, Islamic militants would still fight in Chechnya, Kashmir, Egypt, Uzbekistan, Indonesia and Algeria.

Their agenda is typically determined by local grievances, often with lengthy histories. For example, although Osama bin Laden was already calling for a boycott of US goods to protest support for Israel in the late 1980s, he had never been involved in an attack on an Israeli target until recently.

His primary objective has always been to topple the al-Saud regime in his homeland of Saudi Arabia. Likewise, Zawahiri's (Osama's advisor) book, Knights Under the Prophet's Banner (2002) - part-biography, part-militant manifesto - focuses almost exclusively on the author's native Egypt.

Moreover considerable support for Islamic militancy stems from a sense of humiliation. A two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which would still leave the "Zionist entity" intact, would therefore offer little comfort to the wounded pride of any committed Islamic militant or, more crucial, to the pride of those in the wider community who support and legitimise extremism and violence.