Jerusalem has long been the symbolic focus of the Palestinian national struggle. While a great deal has been written on traditional elite families of Jerusalem and their role in the development of the city as a “national capital,” the historical contributions of Arab residents of the city outside of these elitist families have often been ignored. This paper will begin in the early mandate period (1922-1929) when Arab Palestinians began migrating to the city from Hebron and trace their social and political developments in Jerusalem. The “Hebron Jerusalemite” is now a foundational presence in Jerusalem. This paper will explore the early manifestation of this phenomenon and counter the traditional history that links their presence to the elite politics of Jerusalem. I will show how as merchants they moved into Jerusalem and worked, alongside the “Jerusalem fallah,” to counter the elite politics of the city. The fallahin from villages in the western corridor of the city were newly integrated into central aspects of the social, political and economic life of Jerusalem. By the end of the first full decade of mandate rule in 1929, Jerusalem, therefore, grew to absorb its surrounding towns and villages into its metropolis. Reinforcing the life of the “Jerusalem fallah,” the growing colonial capital city also welcomed a similar phenomenon in what can be described as a “Hebron Jerusalemite.” That is, throughout the 1920s, Arabs from Hebron and its surrounding villages, either re-located or established a second residence in Jerusalem. Besides contributing to the evolution of social relations in the city, the presence of these “non-elite” elements in the city also fundamentally changed the city’s politics. This paper will show how these demographic and social changes directly contributed to the current make-up of Arab Jerusalem. While much attention has been paid to other Palestinian cities and their history of resistance, very little attention has been paid to Jerusalem as a popular center of struggle. A “new Jerusalem” emerged in the Mandate period and this “new city” was the epicenter of a new era of popular politics and mass mobilization. Understanding the historical roots of those in the front lines of this challenge to maintain an Arab presence in Jerusalem, is an attempt to recover a history long ignored by the histories of political elites. Just as the history of Palestine is the history of its people, this is a history of those who live(d) and experience(d) Jerusalem.