Jerusalem-----What is Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's greatest worry today? Assassination? The relationship between Hamas and the PA? The Mitchel Report? New terms to peace negotiations? The Casino in Jericho or his marriage to Suha? Evidently, Arafat's greatest concern has become the jokes which people are making about him in the streets of Gaza and the West Bank. Arafat apparently believes the "joking" situation is no laughing matter, and an unnamed senior Palestinian official said that a report on the jokes has already been passed on to Arafat, who is using it to learn the sentiment in the street. One source said that there is even a special department dealing with the issue!

So here we go - if this is issue number one on Arafat's priority list - let's take a closer look and examine it!

• A bearded man, obviously a Hamas member, and his son enter the office of the PA. They see a photo of Arafat on the wall, and the son asks: 'Isn't this the guy you are always cursing, Dad?' The father then says very loudly: 'Whose kid is this?'

• Prime Minister Ariel Sharon phones Arafat and asks why he can't stop the violence, to which Arafat replies: 'Stop the violence? I can't even stop my lips from moving.'

• Arafat's bodyguards hear an explosion in his office and rush in to see him lying on the floor, his face bloodied. One of them says: "But Mr. President, if it was a letter bomb, your hands would have been hurt." Says Arafat: "I was sealing it."

• Israel has barred Arafat from flying out of Gaza. He is depressed. His bodyguards decide to try and brighten him up and buy him a pair of shoes. He likes them and say they have wonderful taste. "And how did you know my shoe size?" Arafat asks. "Listen Mr. Chairman," they say, "Your foot has been up our rear end for 30 years!"

Arafat has become so paranoid lately, that he blames the above jokes on the Israeli Mossad! We believe that Arafat's greatest concern should not be the above jokes, or how he sees himself as a "hero" among his people for saying "no" to peace. Arafat is truly scared to enter into, complete and implement a true, just and lasting peace agreement with Israel. He was offered almost everything by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak (excluding Falafel restaurants in Tel Aviv!) - offers which were backed up by former President Clinton and the CIA and turned down all due to his concerns of being assassinated by extreme elements for whom he has recently released from PA prisons.

Arafat should be concentrating on the future of the Palestinian people and the people of the region by eliminating hateful incitement in his own media, making every effort to renounce violence and terror and taking a serious perspective for signing a lasting peace agreement with Israel which will bring his own people prosperity and growth.