The Palestinian revolt against British rule and Zionism from 1936-1939 had an impacted intercommunal relations among Palestinians. The anti-Christian actions of a few Muslim rebel leaders caused fear among Christians that Palestinian would descend into communal violence. While extensive intercommunal conflict never materialized, the nature of the debate about religious and national identification was altered dramatically. In the early 1920s Christian and Muslim elites joined together to present a united front to the British and the League of Nations that oversaw the mandate. Intercommunal tensions and violence that erupted during the revolt did not decrease Christian adherence to the national cause, but it did elicit a change in the way a new generation of Christian leaders viewed their position in society. The leaders of both major Palestinian factions (the Husayni-led Palestine Arab Party and the Nashashibi-led National Defence Party) were deported, killed, or imprisoned during the revolt, leaving behind a leadership void. Christian notables, too, had been involved in those movements; those remaining active in the 1940s spent most of their time abroad seeking international support; meanwhile, a new cadre of Christian leaders redirected the local Palestinian community. The Union of Arab Orthodox Clubs was indicative of the shift in Palestinian Christian identification. Rather than rely on non-religious political parties, Orthodox Christians established a widespread and highly active social organization that quickly became known to the British, Zionists, and other Arabs as the mouthpiece of the Arab Orthodox community. The Union fed the poor, organized social events, established an literary journal, participated in national sports leagues, and offered religious education programs. While the Union identified itself explicitly as Orthodox, members debated how to balance religious and national identification. Twenty years earlier Christians discussed the same issue, but overwhelmingly sought to downplay their Christian-ness in favor of their ethnicity. In the 1940s most Christians sought to enhance the Orthodox religious community as part of the national movement. The British did not understand this unique form of communalism. They viewed the full integration of religious and national identification as contradictory, and assumed Christians were lying about their nationalism in order to protect themselves from Palestinian Muslims. Indeed, 1940s Palestinian communalism was very different than the exclusionary communalism that developed in Lebanon or India, and provides a new example for understanding the complex relationship between religion and politics.