Informed Sources

Arafat: Even Touchier Than We Knew

JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres are perturbed by P.L.O. chairman YASSER ARAFAT'S habit of touching them repeatedly to emphasize his points. In January, Arafat even held Peres' hand. "I can't stand it," Peres was overheard to say. When the trio met again last week in Cairo, Rabin and Peres were determined to avoid Arafat's touchy- feely diplomacy. Rabin kept himself out of Arafat's reach, and Peres adopted a policy of staring at the ceiling whenever Arafat walked by.

Clinton Misses a Presidential Photo Op

WASHINGTON -- BILL CLINTON, in search of gravitas, wanted to get a photo of himself with all four of the living ex-Presidents at Richard Nixon's funeral. But the Nixon family balked at the idea of a formal group portrait. "We wanted it," said a White House official. "It would have helped us. But the opportunity never presented itself."

White House to Jesse: Please Be Our Friend

WASHINGTON -- JESSE JACKSON has told friends that he's unhappy with Clinton's crime bill, welfare-reform plans and urban policy in general, and that he might run for President in 1996 as a third-party candidate. To deter Jackson, the White House has been trying to be nice to him. Thus he was picked to travel to South Africa as an official election observer and given a ticket to Nelson Mandela's presidential inauguration.

The House Ducks on Health Care

WASHINGTON -- House Democrats, fearful of political risk after passing a BTU tax last year that the Senate later spurned, have decided to slow their already sluggish pace on health care and let the Senate commit itself first. Their theory: It's the Senate's turn to be brave.