Java EE (Java Enterprise Edition) General Discussion

I have a java servlet that uses a freemarker parser to parse certain keywords in an xml file. Goes very smooth, no problems. The error occurs when I try to make a dynamic menu. Something like:

<menu location="top">
<link target="_blank">
<name>First Link</name>
<address>http://myserver.com/webApp/Servlet?param1=3&param2=a&param3=7</address>
</link>
</menu>

When an xmlparser parses through the xml file, it tells me there is an error at the address. How can I tell it not to parse the address ? Using a dtd didn't seem to work.
When using url encoding in the java servlet, it parses very well, but when clicking the menu, my app server (Tomcat 4.1.12) displays a 404 Not Found error, although the link is correct.

Anyone any ideas ? This has been troubling me for days now, and I can't seem to find a proper solution. Of course I can try to create a new entity in xml for every query parameter, and then concat them in xsl, but there has to be a better solution.

Cheers,

Phil