Arab newspapers warned Barack Obama on Wednesday to beware of lecturing Muslims on his landmark trip to West Asia.

“Don’t be biased towards Israel, don’t interfere in countries’ internal affairs and don’t give lessons in democracy,” advised a front-page editorial in Egypt’s state-owned Al-Rose al-Youssef.

“Within President Obama’s team, there are those who advised him to address Muslims as partners,” Ossama Saraya wrote in the state-owned Al-Ahram.

“But there are also those who asked him to make demands and put pressure on the Muslim world under the pretext of democratisation and respect for human rights. There’s nothing more absurd than putting more pressure on the Arab-Muslim world.”

Saudi Arabia’s Okaz newspaper was more welcoming, proclaiming: “King-Obama summit, key to global stability,” read a headline in the daily. But an editorial in the Saudi Al-Riyadh newspaper urged the Islamic world not to put its expectations too high.

“The Islamic world should not think that Obama is coming to be an ally or a supporter... let’s realise that he will speak as a moderate American who understands the sensitivity of the region, as well as its wars and suffering caused by the US Machiavellian policy over the past five decades.”

But on Cairo’s streets, citizens were more concerned about traffic jams than regional diplomacy.

“What’s he going to do for us? Lower the price of bread? If he does, then he’s welcome here,” said 38-year-old cafe worker Ahmed Abdel Salam.