CAIRO - Egypt's press called on Barack Obama to end its 'blind bias' towards Israel, as the US president arrived in Cairo where he will make a much-anticipated address to the world's Muslims.

"The question on the minds of people listening to Obama's speech today is, "Is the American president willing to give up Washington's blind bias towards Israel?," said an editorial in the state-owned Al-Gomhuria.

"This is the real question that should precede any movement in the region."

The outspoken editor of the independent Al-Doustur newspaper, Ibrahim Eissa, said he had declined an invitation to attend Obama's speech.

"If I went to the speech it would mean that the problem was just with (Obama's predecessor) George W. Bush, but the problem is with US policies in the world and in the Muslim world which haven't yet changed."

"We have seen a vast public relations campaign from Obama but we haven't seen any radical differences, not on an Iraq withdrawal or on Afghanistan, or the war in (Pakistan's) Swat. He has even gone backwards on promising to close Guantanamo."

Amr al-Shoubaki, a political analyst with the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, said he believes the root of the region's problems is in its political and economic weakness.

"It is not expected that Obama change the the situation in the Arab or Islamic world if our political and economic handicap continues and the corruption remains in place," Shoubaki wrote in the independent Al-Masry al-Youm.

"It is true that the US says it supports democracy in the Arab world but it supports its interests first. Obama's good intentions towards the Palestinian people will not lead to success in the real world."

Writing in the same newspaper, Galal Amer said the impact of Obama's trip to Cairo would be as short-lived as the nine-hour visit itself.

"We made some changes, such as painting buildings, sweeping streets and closing shops, but at the end of the visit, everything will be back to normal and streets will be dirty again!" -AFP