javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: Remote host closed connection during handshake during web service communicaiton

Java 7 defaults to TLS 1.0, which can cause this error when that protocol is not accepted. I ran into this problem with a Tomcat application and a server that would not accept TLS 1.0 connections any longer. I added

-Dhttps.protocols=TLSv1.1,TLSv1.2

to the Java options and that fixed it. (Tomcat was running Java 7.)

I faced the same problem and solved it by adding:

System.setProperty("https.protocols", "TLSv1,TLSv1.1,TLSv1.2");

before openConnection method.

Not an answer yet, but too much for a comment. This is clearly not a server cert problem; the symptoms of that are quite different. From your system's POV, the server appears to be closing during the handshake. There are two possibilities:

The server really is closing, which is a SSL/TLS protocol violation though a fairly minor one; there are quite a few reasons a server might fail to handshake with you but it should send a fatal alert first, which your JSSE or the weblogic equivalent should indicate. In this case there may well be some useful information in the server log, if you are able (and permitted) to communicate with knowledgeable server admin(s). Or you can try putting a network monitor on your client machine, or one close enough it sees all your traffic; personally I like www.wireshark.org. But this usually shows only that the close came immediately after the ClientHello, which doesn't narrow it down much. You don't say if you are supposed to and have configured a "client cert" (actually key&cert, in the form of a Java privateKeyEntry) for this server; if that is required by the server and not correct, some servers may perceive that as an attack and knowingly violate protocol by closing even though officially they should send an alert.

Or, some middlebox in the network, most often a firewall or purportedly-transparent proxy, is deciding it doesn't like your connection and forcing a close. The Proxy you use is an obvious suspect; when you say the "same code" works to other hosts, confirm if you mean through the same proxy (not just a proxy) and using HTTPS (not clear HTTP). If that isn't so, try testing to other hosts with HTTPS through the proxy (you needn't send a full SOAP request, just a GET / if enough). If you can, try connecting without the proxy, or possibly a different proxy, and connecting HTTP (not S) through the proxy to the host (if both support clear) and see if those work.

If you don't mind publishing the actual host (but definitely not any authentication credentials) others can try it. Or you can go to www.ssllabs.com and request they test the server (without publishing the results); this will try several common variations on SSL/TLS connection and report any errors it sees, as well as any security weaknesses.

A first step to diagnose the issue is by starting the client - and if you are running the server yourself, a private test instance of the server - by starting Java with the VM option:

-Djavax.net.debug=all

See also https://blogs.oracle.com/java-platform-group/entry/diagnosing_tls_ssl_and_https