Park to be built on dump may be named after Sharon

JERUSALEM, Feb 20 (Reuters) Israeli government officials have proposed renaming a park to be built on the Jewish state's biggest garbage dump after the comatose former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Israeli newspapers reported today.

''There can be nothing more suitable than to name the park after the prime minister who promoted its establishment,'' the Yedioth Ahronoth and Maariv dailies quoted Environment Minister Gideon Ezra and Cabinet Secretary Yisrael Maimon as telling the director of the park project in a letter.

''His love of the land, its landscapes and of the flora and fauna was a deep, true love.'' The project, currently going under the name Ayalon Park, will be on huge landfill site near Tel Aviv.

Sharon, first elected prime minister in 2001, has been comatose since he suffered a stroke in January 2006. The request for the changing of the park's name has yet to be approved by a government committee.

REUTERS SY KN1200