By Wojciech Moskwa and John Acher

OSLO, April 24 (Reuters) - Norway said the month-long policy of international engagement with the Palestinian unity government, led by the Islamic group Hamas, was starting to bring results and helped avoid "civil war tendencies".

Norway was the first Western state to recognise the new Palestinian government last month and said it would soon be ready to resume aid to the Palestinians, raising criticism from Israel and the United States.

In an interview ahead of this week's NATO meeting in Oslo, Norway's Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere called on the European Union and the United States to normalise economic relations with the Palestinian government to shore up its fragile institutions. "This type of engagement is slowly demonstrating results," Stoere told Reuters on Tuesday as Hamas's armed wing declared an end to a five-month-old ceasefire by firing rockets into Israel, despite the unity government's calls to keep the shaky truce.

"We have a Palestinian government which has ended the most flagrant civil war tendencies, there has been an improvement in the security situation, the Arab countries have taken new initiative ... and you have stronger U.S. engagement, all these signs are positive," Stoere said.

PUSH NEEDED

Stoere said Palestinians now needed to push ahead with plans to recognise Israel's right to exist, make a "significant contribution to security", release a captured Israeli soldier and BBC journalist, and stop all rocket attacks.

He added that Palestinian institutions could collapse unless traditional donors to the territory were able to re-establish a steady stream of financial support.

"We need to see movement from the European Union and the United States which can open up for more normal economic relations," he said before a planned meeting with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday.

Asked if Norway would consider suspending relations or aid if Hamas did not make good on its promises, Stoere said the time was not right to speculate on such scenarios.

"We should not underestimate the tremendous efforts it took for the Palestinian parties to come together and (we should) solidify what is still quite fragile," said Stoere.

AlertNet news is provided by