The police are expected to ask for their remand until the end of the proceedings against them, in a court hearing tomorrow morning.
Malka and Vangrover headed the Bayit Leumi (National Home) test exercise in which dozens of highways across the country were blocked for anywhere between a few minutes and over an hour.
If and when Malka and Vangrover are indicted, they are expected to be represented in court by a well-known attorney. As of now, they are representing themselves.
Malka said at a court hearing last week, "We feel that this is an attempt by the court to turn a legitimate public protest, based on freedom of speech and freedom of protest, into a criminal trial. The very fact that criminal law is being utilized here is a mortal blow to the basic democratic principles of the State of Israel. They wish to depict one side of the disengagement debate as criminals, by bringing us in handcuffs and depicting us as violent and the like..."
He noted that the late Menachem Begin "led a campaign of open violence [in the 1950's] against the reparations agreement with Germany, yet was not arrested for even one moment... At worst, some individuals were charged for the acts that they each did... From more recently, I refer you to the students' protest, which also involved blocking roads, and the taxi drivers' struggle, and that of the Histadrut workers of Amir Peretz which shut down the whole country..."
"We have been accused of disrupting daily life. Such a disruption is the automatic result of every demonstration in a democratic country, and is part of the price that a democracy pays in order to retain freedom of expression... Others have protested over matters such as salaries, the price of fuel, or additional allocations. But we are talking here about an issue that is critical to the State of Israel, something that touches upon human lives - a process that we see as an immediate danger to people in the State of Israel."
Malka added, "Civil disobedience is accepted in every democracy, such as the U.S. and France. Apparently the Israeli democracy is not yet able to deal with this... If it is stifled, however, it is liable to lead to a vacuum that could be filled by violence and worse..."
"We are honest and loyal citizens, who are not trying to violate the law, but who are trying to protect the country from a regime that is trying to destroy it. We will therefore not agree to be released with restrictions; we wish to be released like every other honest citizen in this country who has rights and freedoms..."
Over 500 people, mostly teenagers, were arrested during the road-blockings, and some 20 still remain in prison. One of them refuses to be identified; his well-known father told Arutz-7, "I asked him, 'Are you as strong as ever?' and he replied, 'I'm stronger than ever.' The police and courts want to make this into an issue of individuals - the State vs. Moshe ben Avraham or the State vs. Yosef ben David. But it's much more than that; it's the State vs. the entire nation, and therefore it is not appropriate for any individual to identify himself."
Three other expulsion protestors have been imprisoned for several weeks, refusing to be released with restrictions. When a judge ordered them released to house arrest, they told her, "We did nothing wrong for which we must be under house arrest. The government is the one that is banishing citizens from their homes." They wish to be freed as totally innocent citizens, and say they are willing to sit in jail "until the disengagement is canceled."
The father of one of the boys, aged 18-20, said, "A senior police officer told us that if there were 100 boys like them, the system would collapse."