Fearing that the quarry strike may end up costing them their jobs, truckdrivers throughout Israel drove slowly and held up traffic on four major highways this morning. The affected areas are near Netanya, Shaar HaGai, the Golani Junction in the Galilee, and in the Haifa area. The strike began yesterday, after the government demanded that the quarry owners and operators compete in new tenders in order to continue operations, as the operating permits for 50 of the country's 60 quarries expired at the end of 2002. The owners rejected a compromise proposal putting the issue on hold for ten weeks, and have asked for a panel of independent experts to determine a solution.