To be fair some did try but there was surprisingly little resistance

I mean, you can see this to some degree in cities like LA or Chicago or even Houston. Collective resistance efforts happen. You can - and people occasionally do - throw rocks or fire guns or even just fling their sandwiches at the occupying paramilitary.

But much like with the occupation of Iraq or Afghanistan or the capture of Syria or the bombings in Yemen or the invasion of Ukraine or the militarization of far-right governments in Guatamala and El Salvador and Honduras and Argentina, the state can bring a lot more violence against a nascent resistance movement than the movement can repel.

Without an active armed ally - like the French during the American Revolution or the Soviets in Vietnam - a government with the benefit of mass surveillance and air power and armored infantry is very difficult to dislodge.

Just look at Cuba, a country that's been suffering the armed occupation of Guantanamo Bay for 60 years. Or Gaza, for that matter.