Make sure your JSP is not configured to ignore EL with the page directive
<%@ page ... isELIgnored="true" %>
Or, make sure your web.xml not disabled EL for all JSPs using
<jsp-config> ... <el-ignored>true</el-ignored> ... </jsp-config>
EDIT :
Also, make sure your version of web.xml <web-app> 2.4 or higher. Add the following to your web.xml as a workaround (if nothing works):
<jsp-config> <jsp-property-group> <url-pattern>*.jsp</url-pattern> <el-ignored>false</el-ignored> </jsp-property-group> </jsp-config>
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