Syrian-Israeli peace talks got off to a rocky start Wednesday with Israel taking strong exception to hard-hitting opening remarks from Syrian Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara. Speaking at a White House ceremony after President Bill Clinton and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Shara said that Israel provoked the 1967 Middle East war. Shara decried what he described as efforts to muster international sympathy for Israeli settlers on the Golan Heights at the expense of half a million Syrians who were driven out of the area by Israeli troops in the war.