java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: Could not initialize class xxx.xxx.xxx.HibernateUtil

Question

Herewith I added my source code of web.xml

Answer 1

I usualy get those java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError when the class appears MORE THAN ONCE in the classloader. Check the jars because, if the same class is present in more than one (maybe included both in the webservice client jar AND elsewhere) the java classloader will not know which one to load, even if it's exactly the same class.