Tuesday night's Peace Summit among rival neighbourhoods ended with extraordinary gestures of reconciliation.

Bitter enemies hugged and shook hands and invited each other to events in their neighbourhoods and parishes -- something which was inconceivable to them in recent months.

Police will convene another meeting tonight which may see a breakthrough deal to stop the violence.

And it emerged the spark for the recent attacks in the west end lay not among the men -- who are in their 20s and 30s -- but among high schoolers and younger men.

While openly hostile to the media for calling their groups "gangs'' and "sensationalising'' the news, the men promised to return to their old neighbourhood hangouts and tell youngsters to end their "beefs''.

And they complained of media coverage which focussed on last weekend's incidents which may or may not have been related to last month's attacks.

The men indicated the consolidation of youngsters from throughout the Island at CedarBridge Academy and Berkeley Institute may have contributed to the problem.

One man explained fights then escalate outside of school with others, who may have finished school eventually becoming involved.

Police will continue to work with men from two Warwick hot spots, "Rubber Tree'' or the Khyber Pass and Cedar Hill area and "Backbush'' or Ord Road, to get them to tonight's meeting.

And other areas of the Island are also invited, including the east end, where violence has not flared up.

Commissioner of Police Jean-Jacques Lemay -- who has been in the thick of hostilities among the men and manfully accepted criticism of the Police -- was upbeat afterward.

"It's a question of reaching out to the groups that are involved,'' Commissioner Lemay said. "We're trying to deal with the recent events. But they are invited, yes.

"This is unique for us. They are dictating things. They know they have to put the knives and machetes away,'' he added. "And to the others they have my word that if they come to the meeting they won't be arrested (on outstanding warrants).'' "Tubby'' of the Southside Family or the area near the Southampton Rangers Club said: "Town and country have come together. We are sending a very clear message -- stop the violence.

"As far as everything that has gone on, we're together now,'' he added. "I'm not a gang member, I'm a first class citizen.'' "Wainwright'' of Whitewall or the Curving Avenue said he was truly happy he had cleared the air with men from the west end.

"This has been very peaceful,'' he said. "I want them all to know, Southside, Rubber Tree, Backbush all of them, there's a bashment at Spinning Wheel on Wednesday and feel free to come. Enough of this.'' He added: "I'll just say it's a positive view on everything now.'' Not afraid of identifying himself one man encouraged others to step before the camera and encourage others for calm.

"I'm not afraid of the media,'' he said. "My name is Kimani Fubler and my main concern is the youth. School goes back in on Monday. A lot of all this was with them and they will face each other then.

"I'm going to take what I've learned here and try and impress them to stop it,'' Mr. Fubler added. "It's school -- you know what you're there for.

"We're asking the press not to call us gangs -- because we're not. There has just been a lot of unnecessary warfare out there.

"We all know each other and we just have not had a chance to talk the small problems out. I'm looking forward to going to Horseshoe Beach this weekend. We will be going back to our communities and encouraging our youth to get involved in positive things.'' "Yankee from Frontline'' or Court Street, promised the men could have an effect on the teens.

"We're doing this just for the youth,'' he said. "This violence is definitely going to stop. It's starting from the youth but we're getting the blame.

Peace summit brings bitter enemies together "Ya'll bundled into one school and you're going to have to harmonise to get ahead. And for those of you who are not here, please come to the next one on Thursday.'' He added: "We're doing this for peace. If you've got warrants, they won't be arresting you. The Commissioner guaranteed that.'' "Yankee'' agreed with "Scotty'' when he said the meeting ended in "positive vibes'' and that there was "one love'' among the men.

"There's a lot of wars out there and bloodshed,'' Scotty said. "We're saying suck it up! The ones you see here are going to put it all aside and go on.'' Togetherness: Mayor of Hamilton Lawson Mapp (left) and Duane Dill, chairman of BIBA's local marketing committee at the opening ceremony for International Business Week 2000.