KOPPELING A PLEA: To follow up on what a lovely
girl named Cher once said, peace has been declared in the Middle
East. You could tell for sure late Wednesday night, when Ted
Koppel, in an outfit borrowed from Dan Rather, showed up at Yasser
Arafat’s feet to give him all the personal care he’d been craving
the last 34 days or so. Yasser proceeded to screech about this and
that, after which Ted, in his soothing narcissistic manner,
concluded, “All right, Mr. Chairman, you’ve been very gracious with
your time.” The camera continued to ogle Yasser, as he took a young
Palestinian girl onto his lap and planted a filthy kiss on her
cheek. Ted’s an intrepid reporter, but there was no hint from him
that maybe Yasser was simply recruiting another suicide bomber.