Rostam Bastuni

Rostam Bastuni was born in 1923 in Haifa

Bastuni was born in Haifa in 1923. His family came from al-Tira. He studied architecture at the Technion and then worked as a teacher.

He joined the Arab branch of Mapam and served as the party's secretary during the term of the Constituent Assembly. He edited Al-Fajar, the party's Arabic weekly. In 1951 he entered the Knesset on the Mapam list.

During his term Mapam split, and he formed the Left Faction with Moshe Sneh and Adolf Berman. He later returned to Mapam. In 1954 he proposed, with Meir Vilner, ending the military rule over Israel's Arabs.

He lost his seat in the 1955 elections. He later advised the Ministry of Housing on Arab villages, and in 1966 he founded the Actions Committee of Israeli Arabs for Israel.

In 1969 he moved to the United States, where he supported a one-state solution. He taught Middle Eastern history at the State University of New York and became chief architect of the New York City College of Technology. He died in 1994.