ItalianZionist: "...how did the jews survive in such a sea of enemies for so long before muhammad and his lunatics?"
Divine Providence.
Study the Torah carefully, and you will find that the civilizations and peoples inhabiting the Middle East were arguably far more insane and far more dangerous than are the Muslim Arabs...and that's not including the major Empires such as Assyria or Rome which were fond of going on the march.
Knowing the Jew as I do, I can only attribute our survival to the Hand of G-d, because any rational view of history would have predicted our demise thousands of years ago.
Most recently we survived the Nazi Reich and the Soviet Empire; both of which were intent on our physical as well as spiritual extermination.
"The Man Upstairs" must have Plans for us!