It doesn't matter what it generates server side. Because you don't have to write that or maintain it.
JSP and PHP are very similar. Personally, I think that whenever your language has <% } %> in it you're doing something wrong. That's why I don't do PHP, and why I don't do Model 1 JSP.
ZPT *is* the best page templating language around. I just wish it was available for Java. Zope sucks.
<% out.println("Hello world"); %>
pretty much the same as php isnt it...