UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan declared on Monday there was an "alarming resurgence" of anti-Semitism in the world and called for U.N. bodies to adopt resolutions and investigate the ancient scourge.

Greeted with a standing ovation, Annan opened the first U.N.-organized seminar dedicated to anti-Semitism in response to charges that the world body dwelled on Palestinian rights and deliberately ignored injustices to Israelis and Jews.

"When we seek justice for the Palestinians -- as we must-- let us firmly disavow anyone who tries to use that cause to incite hatred against Jews, in Israel or elsewhere," Annan told the gathering, which included a wide spectrum of American Jewish groups and representatives of other religions.

Annan said it was hard to believe that 60 years after the Holocaust that anti-Semitism was rearing its head.

"But it is clear that we are witnessing an alarming resurgence of this phenomenon in new forms and manifestations," he said. "This time the world must not, cannot be silent.

Annan called on U.N. member states to adopt a resolution to combat anti-Semitism, similar to one approved in April by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Fifty-five nations said the Middle East conflict could never justify anti-Semitism and attacks on Jews.

He also said the Geneva-based Commission on Human Rights, should examine anti-Semitism with the same diligence it looked into racism against Muslims in various parts of the world.

"Are not Jews entitled to the same degree of concern and protection?" Annan asked.

Jewish leaders pointed to dissent in the Arab world they say is descending into expressions of extreme anti-Semitism and a flurry of incidents in Europe, especially in France and Russia, they felt had not been addressed properly.

Only Germany came in for praise for its education system and tough laws to combat anti-Semitism, despite rising fears among the Jewish community there. There was little discussion of anti-Semitism in the United States where there are about 5 million Jews, slightly more than in Israel.

Author Elie Wiesel, the Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor, said he thought anti-Semitism had perished in the Auschwitz death camp, but "only the Jews perished there."

Wiesel, the keynote speaker, said that discriminating against Jews often translated into hatred against all minorities and "those who are different."

"When we urge you to fight anti-Semitism. it is because we want to save other people as well," he said.

Edgar Bronfman, president of the World Jewish Congress, demanded Annan appoint an official charged with combating anti-Semitism, an annual report on the subject and a resolution to "unequivocally condemn anti-Semitism."

The United Nations came in for heavy criticism, especially from Anne Bayefsky, a professor and fellow at the Hudson Institute think tank, who said Israel was demonized on a regular basis while Arab nations got away with redrawing the map of the Middle East,

To cheers from the audience, she castigated the United Nations as well as Annan for an "inability to confront the corruption of its agenda."

Felice Gaer, a human rights and U.N. expert from the American Jewish Committee, said there were enough U.N. resolutions on the books against racism and intolerance but U.N. officials appeared afraid to activate them.