Whether Iran will rein in its nuclear program or push ahead with its suspected bid for a weapons capability is likely to become clear by the end of 2013, Israel's Ehud Barak said on Monday.

"Iran remains the central challenge this year, and it is possible we’ll see the direction determined by the end of the year," the outgoing defense minister told members of the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs and defense.

Israel’s police announced on Sunday evening the disappearance of an Israeli citizen in Kiryat Shmona settlement near the Lebanese border.

“We urge Israelis to help us find the disappeared man and to deliver all information about him to concerned authorities,” a statement released by the police said.

U.S. President Barack Obama's three-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories will begin on March 20, Israel said on Sunday, in the first official announcement of the much-anticipated visit.

A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bureau said Obama was due to arrive Wednesday, March 20, at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv and then head to Jerusalem for talks with President Shimon Peres and a dinner meeting with Netanyahu.

The Israeli army prevented a symbolic wedding from being held on Saturday near the West Bank separation barrier aimed at denouncing obstacles to unions between Palestinians and Israeli Arabs, Agence France Presse reported.

The "marriage" was to have been held at an army roadblock between Jerusalem and Ramallah in the West Bank, with an Israeli Arab bride coming from Nazareth in northern Israel.

The United Nations welcomed the release on Saturday of 21 Filipino peacekeepers, who had been seized by Syrian rebels on the Golan Heights, as they crossed to freedom in Jordan after a three-day ordeal.

Philippine authorities also expressed relief at the release of the 21 members of the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF).

A U.N. convoy attempting to pick up 21 Filipino peacekeepers that their Syrian rebel captors had agreed to free was forced back by a barrage of army shelling on Friday, a watchdog said.

In New York the United Nations said efforts to secure the peacekeepers would resume on Saturday.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday played down expectations for a Mideast peace breakthrough during his upcoming trip to Israel, telling American Jewish leaders that he won't be carrying a "grand peace plan" when he arrives in the region later this month.

Obama, in an hour-long private meeting at the White House, acknowledged that near-term prospects for peace are bleak, according to a person who attended the discussion. But the president said a deal with the Palestinians remains the only way for Israel to achieve long-term security.

Israel helped eight U.N. peacekeepers redeploy from an isolated post in the part of the Golan ceasefire zone where 21 of their comrades are being held hostage by Syrian rebels, the military said on Friday.

The troops -- all Filipinos, like the hostages -- left their positions overnight and moved through Israeli-held territory to join up with comrades in the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force further north along the armistice line, an army spokeswoman said.

On a dusty field in Israel's southern desert, the military is gearing up for the next battle against a familiar foe: Hizbullah fighters in Lebanon.

As the Syrian civil war intensifies, military planners are growing increasingly jittery that the fighting could spill over into Israel, potentially dragging the party that is allied with President Bashar Assad into the fray. After battling Hizbullah to a stalemate in 2006, the Israeli military says it has learned key lessons and is prepared to inflict heavy damage on the group if fighting begins again.

Israeli, Greek and U.S. warships began a joint two-week Mediterranean naval exercise codenamed "Noble Dina" on Thursday, the Israeli military said.

"Noble Dina, one of the navy's scheduled annual exercises, is part of the security cooperation between the Israeli navy and foreign naval forces," a statement said. Israel's military sees it "as an opportunity for mutual learning and for strengthening of the cooperation with its allies."