Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says Israel has no intention of negotiating or signing a peace treaty with Syria, even though Syrian President Bashar Assad has expressed interest in such talks. “Discussions on the possibility of withdrawal from the Golan Heights in the past constituted a grave mistake," Sharon told the Knesset (parliament) Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Talks with Syria broke down in 2000 after then President Hafez Assad demanded a Syrian foothold on the Sea of Galilee.