In April 1920, on the occasion of the Nebi Musa festival in Jerusalem, riots broke out in the city between local Arabs and Zionists. Several were the outcomes of these riots, amongst the most important changes occured in the perception of identity from religious to national, as in the case of the Arab population that set aside religious divisions in favour of a shared Arab identity; and the urban reorganisation of the city promoted by the British Governor Ronald Storrs. Earlier, in December 1917, the British had occupied Jerusalem and, in few years, established a Mandate to rule Palestine. During the First World War British policy makers made contradicting promises, in particular with the Balfour Declaration promising the establishment of a Jewish National Home in Palestine. When the Balfour Declaration became public knowledge in late 1917 the attitude of local Arabs towards the Jews changed, as they felt threatened by Jewish-Zionist immigration. It is in this context that the 1920 riots have to be understood. Through the discussion of the Nebi Musa riots that took place at the zenith of the renegotiation of alliances between Christian and Muslim notables, this paper will show how urban violence was turned into a test of national struggle between Arabs and Zionists and how violence became part of the local political vocabulary marking permanently the local identities of Jerusalem. This paper argues that religious groups, Christian and Muslim, allowed some exchanges and openings in their practices due to the contingency of the situation and to political reasons: they also added violence as an available tool to their rhetoric. This paper aims to show how the consequences of the war and the policies that followed, had a major impact on the local Christian communities through the renegotiation of local alliances and on the de-marginalisation of the Christians, who subsequently became an active part of the emerging Arab nationalist movement. A further aspect dealt with in this paper will address the impact of urban violence in the re-conceptualisation of the urban development of Jerusalem by the British. The new rulers, with their new and particularistic vision over the future of the city, by promoting particular changes in the urban landscape deepened divisions amongst the various religious groups, Christian, Muslim and Jewish, fearing that a ‘mixed city’ would trigger further manifestations of violence.