Israeli public asked to choose logo for Obama visit

Jerusalem, Feb 17 (AFP) Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's office is asking the public to choose an official logo for next month's state visit of US President Barack Obama by voting for one of three proposed designs on Facebook. Participants have until 1400 GMT on Tuesday to choose their favourite design by clicking "like' on Netanyahu's Facebook page (http://www.Facebook.Com/HEBPMO), a statement from the prime minister's office said. One option is a Star of David made out of smaller red and blue stars on a white background and the caption "President Obama In Israel 2013 UNBREAKABLE ALLIANCE" in English and Hebrew. Another option has the same wording with a similar image, but this time with red stripes added to the stars in a design which suggests both the US and Israeli flags, while the third goes a step further with a clear representation of the two nation's banners joined as one. Obama's visit has been dubbed "Operation Unbreakable Alliance." Neither side has confirmed specific dates for the visit, but Israeli media reports and a Palestinian official have said that it will run from March 20-22 and take in talks with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah. The White House has kept expectations deliberately low, saying Obama has no plans to use the trip to push new proposals to break the more than two-year deadlock in peace talks. Today, Netanyahu reiterated that his talks with Obama would focus on Iran's nuclear programme, the conflict in Syria and long-stalled stalled peace talks with the Palestinians, saying that Israeli negotiator Isaac Molcho had just returned from discussions on the issue in Washington. He said that Israeli National Security Advisor Yaakov Amidror would also travel to the US capital in the coming week for further discussions. (AFP) ASY 02180049 NNNN