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This DVD takes the viewer on a journey from Jerusalem to Kabul while Ulrich Tilgner poses the issue of a clash of civilizations.
Ulrich Tilgner's long journey from Jerusalem to Kabul today leads him to his first finish of the stage, Baghdad. The seasoned journalist with many years' experience of reporting from the Near and Middle East follows the trail of a major conflict which is reverberating throughout the whole region. In dozens of encounters and meetings with people he continues to pose the unsolved questions which occupy the thoughts of everybody living there. Naturally, religious differences are one of the root causes. The Orient is where the three major monotheistic religions came into existence. War followed by peaceful co-existence between Jews, Christians, and Muslims, was an established pattern over centuries. Until now, intransigence has rendered impossible any hope for lasting harmony in relations. Believers continue to insist on their convictions even though this insistence continues to lead to bloodshed and war, over and over again. Returning to the basic tenets of religious convictions also continues to be a source for staving off developments towards a modern civil society. For the Bedouin, persistence and a rigid adherence to the ways of old form a basis for survival today, in the relentless climate of the desert. Even 2000 years ago, historians mentioned clashes between the tribes inhabiting the huge regions of the desert and the urban societies living on the riverbanks. It is hardly surprising that US forces now are running into problems trying to pacify Iraq.

On the second string of his journey from Jerusalem to Kabul, Ulrich Tilgner reports on the situation in Iraq which seems to worsen from day to day. The occupation by coalition soldiers strengthened the re-Islamization of society. Differences increase between Shiites and Sunnites. Mesopotamia is threatened by decline. For years, Saddam Hussein repressed the Shiites and reacted with bloodshed towards uprisings from these quarters. Instead of modernising the country, the dictator destroyed its political culture and strengthened tribal power. In Iran, re-Islamization was also a reaction to a modernization which failed. Now, the ruling Ayatollahs of Tehran try to relax tensions by strengthening economic and societal developments. The government is faced with increasing consumerism on the part of the young and the demand to make their country accessible and open. Only if they succeed in relieving the tensions borne of the clash of tradition and progress, will the ruling clergy secure its power on a long-term basis.

The third stage of the journey through the conflicted region leads Ulrich Tilgner to Afghanistan. This country is proof of how difficult it is to remove and make undone the damages of many years of war. It is true, the foreign troops prevented a new flare-up of civil war. But to date, neither foreign soldiers nor representatives from NGOs and other international aidworkers have succeeded in healing the wounds of a quarter century of war. Millions of aid money are spent in Kabul without ever reaching those who desperately need it. There is an increase of attacks in the provinces and foreigners are met with increasing hostility. The Arab commandoes of al-Qaida have long been driven out or left Afghanistan on their own account while the Taleban movement of Afghanistan is far from beaten; indeed, attacks on foreigns soldiers and aidworkers are on the increase. Afghanistan will come to symbolize the difficulties encountered in building bridges between Orient and occident. But there are ways to avoid a war or a clash of cultures and civilizations. Schools are one example, schools that are constructed now in the region of Tora Bora where only four years ago, Osama ben Laden trained commandoes for attacks on the metropolises of the Western world.