Israeli warplanes have attacked Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon after the militant group captured three Israeli soldiers in the area.
Mr Barak again blamed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for the violence.
A wave of deadly clashes between the Israeli forces and Palestinians have left 80 people dead so far - most of them Palestinians.
Israeli warplanes have attacked Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon after the militant group captured three Israeli soldiers in the area.
In the West Bank town of Nablus, a Jewish shrine, Joseph's Tomb, has been ransacked by Palestinian crowds after Israel withdrew its forces from the area.
In Washington, President Clinton cancelled his plans for the day to keep in touch with developments.
Palestinian anger
Reacting to Mr Barak's address, a senior member of the Palestine National Council, Hanan Ashrawi, said it was a typical Israeli reaction - blaming the victims for the violence.
She told Mr Barak to call on his army to stop shooting Palestinian people on their own land.
She said a change in mentality was needed among Israelis, to stop behaving like an occupying power and start behaving like a partner in peace.
Air strikes
According to reports the Israeli army has sent a special commando unit to the northern border area with Lebanon and put it on a state of alert.
The trouble began on the border after a riot in which Israeli soldiers shot dead at least two Palestinians.
Artillery battles have ensued along the border and Mr Barak has issued a demand to Syria and Lebanon to bring an end to the violence.
A correspondent for Reuters news agency said that Israeli jets fired rockets at the hills near a border village, Kfar Chouba, from which the guerrillas shelled Israel earlier.
It is the first time Israeli aircraft have entered Lebanon since Israel pulled all its troops out of the country in May after a 22-year occupation.
Hezbollah demands
Israel confirmed that three of its soldiers had been captured.
"This afternoon, three Israeli army soldiers were kidnapped during operational activity along the border fence... on the northern frontier by Lebanese elements, apparently Hezbollah," the army said in a statement.
It said the armed forces would make "every effort to locate the abducted soldiers and to return them home safely".
Hezbollah said it had captured the soldiers from an Israeli army position in the Shebaa Farms district, an area that remained in dispute after the Israeli's withdrawal from Lebanon.
It said it had launched the operation for three reasons:
Witnesses said that Israeli helicopter gunships scrambled to the air immediately afterwards, apparently to search for the missing soldiers.
Rising anger
Anti-Israeli protests have continued across the Arab world, with the most violent taking place in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.
Reports say several policemen and students were injured in clashes as security forces tried to stop demonstrators marching on the Israeli embassy.
For a second day, there were similar scenes in the Syrian capital, Damascus, while in Amman, the Jordanian authorities banned demonstrations after one person was killed at a Palestinian camp on Friday.
Amid mounting Arab anger, the Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, has continued his efforts to convene an emergency Arab summit.