AT THE very least, you would have expected mass resignations. After all, the leader of a rightwing government, the head of a Likud party that barely acknowledges the existence of a Palestinian "people", had just met the man most Likud members still consider a terrorist, shaken his hand, and promised to work with him towards the continued expansion of Palestinian control over the West Bank.
And yet, three days after the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, suppressed a grimace and reached out to Mr Yasser Arafat, the Israeli government remains intact, not a single minister has bolted in disgust, not a single Knesset member defected from the coalition benches.
Two ministers have made their displeasure abundantly clear. Mr Benny Begin has charged Mr Netanyahu with betraying his own government's platform. But Mr Begin was still sitting in his usual seat when the cabinet met yesterday morning.
And Gen Ariel Sharon reminded Likud activists, at a gathering on Thursday night, of Mr Arafat's lifetime of murderous terrorism. To rousing applause, he told them that "a people that wants to live, does not forget." But Gen Sharon, too, took his seat as normal yesterday.
A Palestinian negotiator, Mr Saeb Erakat, deeply involved in the talks that led to Wednesday's Arafat Netanyahu summit, believes it was a momentous event, the start of the Palestinians' "making peace with the other half of Israel."
Furious Jewish settler activists also seem to believe an event of massive significance has taken place, and are talking of returning to the campaign of civil disobedience they had thought was over when Mr Peres was defeated in May's elections.
But the very lack of resignations, and the absence of seriously widespread protest against Mr Netanyahu from within his own camp, suggest that both Mr Erakat's extreme delight and the settlers' profound anger are misplaced. For since that brief handshake, Mr Netanyahu has done his best to make it plain that he has not changed any of his positions on the Palestinian issue.
"There will be no Palestinian state," he is repeating at every opportunity. The Jewish settlements will remain "for ever". There will be "no compromise" on Jerusalem.
Mr Netanyahu, it seems, met Mr Arafat because Egypt, Jordan and, above all, the US were insisting that he do so. But does that mean a smooth path has now been opened to the implementation of the peace accords with the Palestinians? Don't bet on it.